On April 6, a bipartisan group of two dozen American and European national security leaders urged the U.S. government to ease sanctions on Iran amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Just because Iran has managed the crisis badly, that does not make its humanitarian needs and our security ones any the less. Targeted sanctions relief would be both morally right and serve the health and security interests of the United States, Europe, and the rest of the world,” the former officials said in a statement organized by the European Leadership Network and The Iran Project.

Six weeks after the first COVID-19 deaths, President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran was successfully containing the outbreak. “Fortunately, the statistics I read last night from all the provinces shows a downward trend in all provinces,” he said at a cabinet meeting on April 1. Rouhani claimed that Iran’s increasingly stricter travel restrictions and social distancing curbed infections without resorting to a stringent lockdown as seen in Wuhan, China, where the disease originated.

On April 1, President Donald Trump warned that Iran would pay a “very heavy price” if it or one of its proxies attacked U.S. troops or assets in Iraq. In a tweet, he cited a possible “sneak attack” but did not provide further details. The message came after Trump reportedly received a foreign intelligence briefing. Trump repeated his warning. “Don’t do it.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif charged the United States with “war crimes” and “economic terrorism” as U.S. sanctions “literally kill innocents” because of Iran’s ability to acquire medical supplies during the COVID-19 crisis. On February 28, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had offered humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Iran to deal with its growing health crisis. But on March 7, Zarif accused the Trump Administration of “maliciously tightening” sanctions to drain Iran’s resources needed to fight the coronavirus.

On March 25, Iran and seven other countries urged U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to call for the immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions imposed mainly by the United States and the European Union. In a joint letter, the foreign ministers of China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela said fighting the COVID-19 pandemic was “hard – if not impossible” under the limitations imposed by sanctions. They urged the U.N.

On March 26, a group of Democratic senators urged the Trump administration to temporarily ease sanctions on Iran and Venezuela to help them cope with the coronavirus outbreak. “As these countries struggle to respond to their domestic health crises, U.S.

On March 26, the United States sanctioned 20 individuals and companies for funneling money to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and transferring lethal aid to Iraqi militias backed by Iran. “Iran employs a web of front companies to fund terrorist groups across the region, siphoning resources away from the Iranian people and prioritizing terrorist proxies over the basic needs of its people,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. He reiterated that U.S.

Iran has scrambled to deal with the mounting death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic amid claims that it is seriously underreporting the numbers. In February and March video and satellite images showed mass graves dug in Qom, the epicenter of the outbreak, to keep up with the pace of deaths. A lawmaker in the holy city accused the government of dishonesty on the death toll. Local media reported that victims of the virus were being buried in a special section.

Iran had an opportunity to deescalate conflict with its regional rivals and the United States during the Biden presidency, the head of U.S. Central Command said. “The new U.S.

Early on March 13, the United States struck five weapon storage facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian militia in Iraq linked to the attack on the Camp Taji base that killed two U.S. and one British service members and injured 14 others. “The United States will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests, or our allies,” Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper said.