Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday called on the US government to stop sanctions on Iran’s oil exports.
Taking to Twitter, Zarif said, “Iran is rich in human & natural resources. We don’t need charity from (US President) Donald Trump”.
Iran is rich in human & natural resources. We don’t need charity from @realDonaldTrump—who’s forced to buy ventilators from sources he’s sanctioned.
What we want is for him to STOP preventing Iran from selling oil & other products, buying its needs & making & receiving payments. pic.twitter.com/6nF1mRj2ux
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) April 7, 2020
The remarks of Zarif was an allusion to the recent help offer by Trump amid the surge of the novel coronavirus in Iran.
The finance minister further posted, “What we want is for him to stop preventing Iran from selling oil & other products, buying its needs & making & receiving payments”.
On April 5, Iran envoy to Belgium asked the European Union to oppose US sanctions amid the surge of COVID-19 pandemic.
On Friday, Baqaei Hamaneh said in a letter to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, “The sanctions have blocked Iran’s banking interaction with other countries in the purchase of commodities required in the fight against the coronavirus”.
Last Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani censured the US for maintaining its sanctions against Iran despite the outbreak of COVID-19 across the country.
Last week, the US has renewed sanctions waivers on Iran that allowed foreign companies to continue work at Iranian nuclear facilities to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
In February, President Hassan Rouhani had said that his country was open to talks with the European Union (EU) on possible ways to save the 2015 landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and major world powers.
The nuclear deal between Tehran and a group of world powers has been crumbling since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018, and Washington has since stepped up sanctions and a campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran.
Iran is the worst-hit country by the pandemic in the Middle East, with 62,589 confirmed cases and 3,872 deaths so far.