TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that the United States’ actions, which are against human rights, have impeded Iran’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“Anti-human rights’ actions of the United States have caused challenges to Iran’s targeted program in fighting the coronavirus,” Rouhani said during a speech at virtual summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

He also said that President Donald Trump’s action in cutting off payments to the World Health Organization was a “strategic mistake” which undermines global fight against the coronavirus.

“However, you cannot expect other than this from the United States which has repeatedly violated international agreements and law. It has been for many years that the United States deprives the people of their rights and its actions threaten multilateralism and international cooperation,” Rouhani said.

He expressed regret over the fact that the U.S. “illegal” sanctions have prevented Iran from access to medical equipment.

Elsewhere, the president said that the coronavirus pandemic proved how a disease can endanger health of all the people in the world regardless of their ethnicity and nationality.

“This is a serious warning to all countries. That the human is being exposed to threats such as destruction of the environment, global warming and natural threats such as the coronavirus. It is the time to replace pressure, economic and military terrorism with multilateral cooperation to fight common threats,” the Iranian president suggested.

He noted that Iran has had such a viewpoint and cooperated with other countries since outbreak of the virus.

NA/PA