US approves Iranian funds transfer to buy COVID vaccines, says Iran central bank chief
Iranian officials have argued US sanctions have hampered their ability to make payments for overseas vaccines.
The United States has approved the overseas transfer of funds from an Iranian bank to pay for coronavirus vaccines, the regime’s central bank chief says. Sanctions are technically not supposed to affect medicine, and this will allow Tehran to avoid some of the corollary damage US restrictions on Iran's financial institutions have caused when it comes to the Islamic Republic's medical sector.
Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati told state TV last week that the approval follows the “pressure of world public opinion” and comes as the country’s daily death toll from the virus fell to a three-month low.
Washington has repeatedly said that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions. But Iranian officials have argued the sanctions have hampered them from making payments for vaccines coming from overseas as international banks and financial institutions fear being fined or locked out of American markets.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted approval for an Iranian bank to transfer funds to a Swiss bank, Hemmati said. The office could not be reached for comment.
