Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has denounced possible US offers of help with coronavirus as "lies" after several US officials including US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Washington's Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook were reported to be mulling such an option.
"If [the US] are really telling the truth, you should at least lift your sanctions on medicine. This would be a first step. And you also need to admit that you have done wrong to the Iranian nation and offer them an apology", Rouhani said in his statement.
The president also accused Washington of trying to "exploit the circumstances" in Iran to "target" its people, calling it the "worst thing" that the country's ill-wishers could do.
US President Donald Trump had stated on 29 February that US would help Iran cope with its coronavirus outbreak if it asks for such aid. US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook previously mulled the possibility of the US dropping its ban on certain medicine-related goods, such as respirators, but also suggested that Tehran has enough funds to deal with the epidemic itself.
According to the latest data, some 2,922 have been contracted with COVID-19 virus and 92 more have been killed, making Iran one of the countries most affected by the infection outside of China. The latter recently reported over 80,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,946 deaths as a result.