US hampering Iran's coronavirus fight, crime against humanity: Shamkhani
A high-ranking Iranian security official says the efforts made by the US President Donald Trump to block Iran's access to financial and other resources it needs to contain an ongoing pandemic of new coronavirus, known as COVID-19, amount to crime against humanity.
According to Press TV, Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), made the remarks in a Sunday Twitter post, saying, “Imposing sanctions [on importation of] hygiene items is an illegal measure against human rights and [a sign of] Trump's clear animosity toward the Iranian nation.”
The security chief added, “US opposition to International Monetary Fund (IMF) granting loan to Iran to supply necessary items to fight coronavirus [pandemic] is a real instance of crime against humanity.”
In a tweet on March 12, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to extend support to Iran, who is a member state of the Washington-based lender.
Zarif said the IMF managing director “has stated that countries affected by #COVID19 will be supported via Rapid Financial Instrument. Our Central Bank requested access to this facility immediately.”
In an Instagram post, Abdulnaser Hemmati, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), said Iran has asked the IMF for $5 billion emergency funding to fight a coronavirus pandemic as the number of infections keeps growing in the country.
Hemmati added that he had written to the IMF’s head, Kristalina Georgieva, to stress Iran’s “right to benefit from the fund’s $50-billion Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI).”
SS
