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Iran urges US to end sanctions it says hinder vaccine access

Iran says sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump are preventing the country from securing the COVID-19 vaccines it needs.
An Iranian man wearing a protective mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past a mural painted on the outer walls of the former US embassy in the capital Tehran, on December 30, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran is calling on President Joe Biden to remove harsh sanctions levied by the previous administration that Iran’s leaders say are impeding their access to coronavirus vaccinations made abroad.

“Since [Biden’s] administration claims not to be anti-science like the previous one, … one expects it to free the transfer of Iran’s own foreign exchange resources to fight the coronavirus and for health and food, and lift banking sanctions quickly,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a televised news conference on Tuesday.

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