Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the United States blocked Iran’s access to ten million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by pressuring the companies involved in the transferring of the vaccines to Iran.

“We have done what we should have done. We bought vaccines from India and we paid for it, but then they said ‘our Judiciary has gotten in the way and we cannot give you the vaccines,’” Rouhani said during a video conference call on Thursday during a ceremony to inaugurate five national knowledge-based and innovative projects.

Pointing to the unprecedented US sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Rouhani said Tehran’s general impression was that no country would target another country’s access to basic needs such as food and medicine with sanctions, but the United States, under former president Donald Trump, proved Iran wrong.
“Trump dwarfed all the executioners of history as he started a war against the Iranian nation which had no boundaries, like a war that does not shy away from [using] chemical, microbial and nuclear weapons or [targeting] residential and non-residential areas,” he added.
The Iranian president further lamented that the “rebellious” and “lawless” US government has not eased its sanctions on Iran since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, hampering Iran’s efforts to buy necessary medicines and vaccines.