Iran

TEHRAN, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday said that U.S. would be responsible for the "destructive ramifications" of its unilateral sanctions against Iran as the country is fighting the COVID-19 outbreak.

"At a time when we, Iranians, normally celebrate Nowruz, our New Year concurrent with the arrival of spring, we are faced with multiple and historic challenges," Zarif said in a video released on Twitter on Wednesday.

TEHRAN, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Despite the worst sanctions by the United States, Iran's economy has been growing in the current Iranian calendar year which ends on March 20, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday.

The Iranian government has been able to manage the country without oil money due to the U.S. sanctions on the Iranian people and economy, including the oil industry, Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting.

CAIRO, Mar 18 (NNN-MENA) – Iran reported 1,178 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 135 more deaths from the virus, with the death toll edging towards 1,000.

Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education announced that, the total number of COVID-19 cases increased to 16,169, as the death toll reached 988. A total of 5,389 people have recovered.

Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called for a global campaign to disregard the U.S. anti-Iran sanctions, so to help Iran, the worst-hit country in the Middle East by the virus, to fight the epidemic.

18 Mar 2020; MEMO: A 103-year-old Iranian woman successfully recovered after contracting the deadly coronavirus, which has claimed thousands of lives worldwide since early this year, reports Anadolu Agency.

According to Nevid Danayi, the rector of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, the old lady was discharged from the hospital, becoming the second oldest person ever to recover from the disease known as COVID-19.

TEHRAN, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday said U.S. "unlawful" anti-Iran sanctions have impaired its ability to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

"Unlawful U.S. sanctions (have) drained Iran's economic resources, impairing its ability to fight COVID-19," Zarif said on Twitter.

The sanctions "literally kill innocents," he wrote.

"Join the growing global campaign to disregard U.S. sanctions on Iran," Zarif added.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran issued its most dire warning yet Tuesday about the new coronavirus ravaging the country, suggesting “millions” could die in the Islamic Republic if people keep traveling and ignore health guidance.

A state TV journalist who also is a medical doctor gave the warning only hours after hard-line Shiite faithful on Monday night pushed their way into the courtyards of two major shrines that were finally closed due to the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling prohibiting “unnecessary” travel.

17 Mar 2020; MEMO: Representative of the people in Tehran at the Iranian Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Hashem Bathaei-Golpaygani, died of the coronavirus yesterday morning, local media reported.

Seventy-eight-year-old Bathaei-Golpaygani was reported to have lost his life at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for the novel coronavirus.

The Assembly of Experts is a body that supervises and appoints the Supreme Leader of Iran.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The official leading Iran’s response to the new coronavirus acknowledged Sunday that the pandemic could overwhelm health facilities in his country, which is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East while under heavy U.S. sanctions.

15 Mar 2020; MEMO: President Hassan Rouhani said Iran’s fight against the coronavirus was being “severely hampered” by US sanctions, as state television reported that the death toll from the illness rose on Saturday to 611, up nearly 100 from a day earlier.

State media said Rouhani wrote to a number of world leaders, without naming them.

15 Mar 2020; MEMO: Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior aide of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has tested positive for the coronavirus, Iranian news agencies reported on Thursday.