Iran's health officials dismissed several statements about a "US sabotage attack" or halts in the country's indigenous vaccine projects. "The production line of COV-Iran Barakat is operating with full capacity," read a statement issued by the state-funded Shifapharmed Industrial Group, which is involved in the production of one in a long list of vaccines Iran says it has developed to immunize its population against multiple variants of the coronavirus.

"The production of Iran's domestic COVID-19 vaccines has been delayed due to an American hostile act," senior conservative Iranian pundit Mohammad Marandi was quoted as saying by Iran's state-funded English-language newspaper, Tehran Times. However, Marandi denied the statement immediately and the Tehran Times tweet with the quote was removed afterward.

Last month, Hojjat Niki-Maleki, spokesperson for the business empire funding the COV-Iran Barakat project, declared that a batch of 1.2 million doses had been rendered useless "due to a problem." He did not offer further details.

And on Wednesday, senior Iranian epidemiologist Minou Mohraz drew the ire of the Health Ministry with controversial comments about a joint Iranian-Cuban vaccine project. Mohraz stated that despite an earlier agreement, the Cuban side had withdrawn its involvement. In a strongly worded reaction, the spokesperson for Iran's Food and Drug Organization, Kianoush Jahanpour, rejected the epidemiologist's "baseless" remarks, adding that the stance was her personal opinion and she never had an official link with the National Coronavirus Taskforce. Mohraz is widely known in Iranian media as a member of the Scientific Board of the taskforce.