US accuses Iran of 'scam' strategy in seeking coronavirus sanctions relief

Number of Iranian patients soars above 60,000, of which more than 3,700 have died

A shopkeeper waits for customers as a woman wearing a face mask to help protect against the new coronavirus, walks at the Tehran's Grand Bazaar, Iran.  AP

The Trump administration on Monday accused Iran of a scam in which it is trying to obtain sanctions relief for the coronavirus pandemic, which would enable Tehran to increase its spending on “terror operations".

Washington is ignoring calls from Iran to lift sanctions as the coronavirus cases there soar above 60,000, of which more than 3,700 have died.

“Iran’s slick foreign influence campaign to obtain sanctions relief is not intended for the relief or health of the Iranian people, but to raise funds for its terror operations,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

Ms Ortagus accused Tehran of spending more than $16 billion (Dh58.77bn) to fund its terror proxies abroad while Iranian healthcare services remained woefully underfunded.”

She said that sanctions were not stopping aid getting to Iran.

The US had offered Iran “unconditional humanitarian aid” without sanctions relief, but the leadership in Tehran rejected the offer again on Monday.

The sanctions do not target medical equipment but they affect Iran’s ability to finance such imports.

The US is accusing Iran of spending funds that are meant to be allocated towards health on militias.

“In 2018, Iran withdrew an estimated $2.5bn from its National Development Fund for increased defence spending," the State Department said.

"In 2019, Iran withdrew $1.5bn from the fund for other military expenses."

It accused supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of intervening in the parliamentary budget process "and on March 19 increased funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by 33 per cent over [President Hassan] Rouhani’s original budget request".

But calls mounted on Monday in Europe and among former US policymakers to offer Iran sanctions relief.

"Just as the Covid-19 pandemic has upended every aspect of the global economy and of human lives and health, it has drastically changed the impact of a US policy designed for a different purpose and conditions," 24 current and former diplomats said in a statement, The Washington Post reported.

Former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic front-runner challenging US President Donald Trump in this year's elections, supported these calls.

“The United States should take steps to offer what relief we can to those nations hardest hit by this virus, including Iran, even as we prioritise the health of the American people,” Mr Biden said last week.

Meanwhile in Iran, the government has resisted a full lockdown to stop the spreading and reopened ministries on Monday:

Iran has the highest number of cases of coronavirus in the Middle East and North Africa region.