Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has hailed Iranian nurses for their sacrifices in the country�s fight against the coronavirus pandemic amid the most draconian sanctions.

US sanctions have prevented Iran from getting necessary medicine and equipment to fight against the virus, forcing the country to resort to its own means�to tackle the problem.

Ayatollah Khamenei said on Sunday the arrogant powers� joy at the suffering of the Iranian people has been manifested�in events such as helping former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein gas Iranian troops and border towns and imposing a �medical embargo on the Iranian nation�.

�Given these facts, when nurses, with effort and self-sacrifice, put a smile on the lips of patients and their loved ones,�they are in fact struggling against the malicious world of arrogance. This is the double value of the nursing community in the Islamic Iran,� the Leader said.

The coronavirus pandemic, however, "showed�that if the nursing community is not strengthened, we will be hit hard", Ayatollah Khamenei added.

Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from US sanctions imposed on Tehran in 2018 after President Donald Trump walked away from a 2015 international deal over Iran�s nuclear program.

But the US measures, which target all sectors including oil and financial activities, have deterred foreign banks from processing financial transactions with Iran. Tehran says this has frequently disrupted efforts to import essential medicines and other humanitarian items.

 

Source: Press TV