Iran’s central bank says it has received support from the US to transfer money to a Swiss account to pay for the vaccines.
Iran has received approval from the United States to transfer money for coronavirus vaccines from abroad, the central bank chief said, as the daily death toll fell to a three-month low.
Central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said an Iranian bank had received support from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to transfer the money to a Swiss bank to pay for the vaccines.
“They [Americans] have imposed sanctions on all our banks. They accepted this one case under pressure from the world’s public opinion, ”Hemmati told state television.
There was no immediate response from the US to Hemmati’s comments.
Hemmati said Iran would pay nearly $ 244 million for the initial import of 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, a multi-agency group committed to fair access to vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said that US sanctions are preventing them from making payments to COVAX, which some 190 economies have joined.
Iranian Shifa Pharmed began registering volunteers for human trials this week with the country’s first domestic COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Iranian media reported, as there appeared to be a group dispute over the use of imported products.
“We do not recommend injecting foreign coronavirus vaccines into the personnel of the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij [voluntary militia]Iranian news outlets quoted Mohammed Reza Naqdi, a deputy head of the tough Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as he said.
Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari previously told state television that in the past 24 hours, 152 people had died from COVID-19 in Iran, the lowest number since September 18, bringing the total number of deaths to 54,308 in the worst. affected country in the Middle East.
The drop in deaths comes after more than a month of nightly curfews and other restrictions in major cities. Police said on Wednesday 96,000 fines for drivers who violate curfews.
Officials have warned that the danger of an infection resurgence is high.
US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on the country.
President-elect Joe Biden’s rise to power has opened the possibility that Washington could rejoin the agreement.