ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq and Iran reached an agreement on Saturday to send $125 million of frozen Iranian funds in order for the country to buy coronavirus vaccines, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Reza Ardakanian, Iran’s Minister of Energy, said the funds would be used to purchase the vaccines from the COVAX vaccine sharing plan, which is sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), IRNA stated.
Iraqi officials have so far not confirmed the deal.
US imposed third-party banking sanctions prevent banks from transactions with Iran, although Iraq has been allowed to import energy from Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on Saturday the Iranian-developed coronavirus vaccine, CovIran Barakat, would come onto the market in June. Rouhani said he hoped the country would become fully vaccinated by late summer.
The second and third clinical trial of the CovIran Barakat corona virus vaccine candidate started in March.
Iran is the country in the Middle East that has been hit the hardest by the pandemic and is one of the most severely affected countries in the world.
Iran’s Health Ministry announced on Saturday the deaths of 173 patients since noon on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 79,741. The ministry said there were over 4 thousand patients in critical condition and that over 2 million patients have recovered from the disease or were discharged from the hospital.
