Tasnim - Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres stressed the need for the US to lift the anti-Iranian sanctions that have hindered Tehran�s battle with the coronavirus epidemic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the UN chief held a telephone conversation on Friday and discussed the latest developments surrounding Iran�s fight against COVID-19 and the obstacles that the Iranian nation is facing in this path, according to the Foreign Ministry�s website.

The telephone conversation was held as part of the international consultations that Zarif has been holding about the battle with the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran and the world and following a letter that he had sent to the UN Secretary-General a couple of days ago.

In the conversation, Antonio Guterres expressed solidarity and sympathy with the Iranian nation, and stressed the need for the removal of the US sanctions against the Iranian nation in the fight against coronavirus.

Foreign Minister Zarif, for his part, appreciated the stances adopted and the assistance provided by the institutions affiliated with the United Nations, and highlighted the need to abolish the inhumane, cruel, illegal and unilateral sanctions the US has imposed against people of Iran.

Earlier this month, Zarif sent a letter to Guterres, denouncing the US� sanctions as a major obstacle to the Islamic Republic�s fight against the coronavirus and urging that such unilateral and illegal sanctions should end.

Zarif emphasized in the letter that despite Iran�s scientific capabilities and the commitment that the country�s health system has shown to the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, the US� sanctions on legal trade and the preconditions that the United States� authorities have set recently in order to prevent the sale of medicine, medical equipment and humanitarian supplies have posed serious obstacles to the efforts to battle against the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.