TEHRAN, Iran, June 22
Trend:
Iran paid for 16 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Tejarat Bank of Iraq, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said, Trend reports via IRNA.
He said, in particular, Iran's payment resulted in 115 million Swiss francs.
Ardakanian previously said that a license had been issued to allocate Iran's foreign exchange resources in Iraq to purchase the mentioned amount of vaccines.
He also stated that the currency needed to buy the coronavirus vaccine from Russia would be provided by Iran's demands from Iraq, and that the first payment would be made soon.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic of Iran only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19. The pandemic hit a wide range of businesses in Iran since its outbreak in mid-February.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.