TEHRAN - The chairman of the Tehran City Council, Mohsen Hashemi, planned to write a letter to the heads of a number of metropolises across the world about the need to lift sanctions on Iran as the country is grappling with the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, the council’s spokesman Ali A’ta announced on Tuesday.

Overcoming the “global coronavirus crisis is not possible without international cooperation and the enforcement of the harshest economic sanctions against Iran by the United States” have deprived the 80-million Iranian population of international aid in this struggle, A’ta tweeted, ISNA reported.

A’ta said Hashemi was to write the letter on the part of the Tehran city councilors to heads of metropolises urging them to use all legal capacities of local parliaments in negotiations with national parliaments and governments to remove economic sanctions on Iran.

In the letter, A’ta said, Hashemi pointed to the repercussions of the widespread U.S. economic sanctions on Iran.

In line with his “maximum pressure” policy, U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped the harshest ever sanctions in history against Iran. Trump has introduced a total ban on Iran’s oil export, the country’s main source of revenues.

Despite pleas by certain world leaders and the United Nations, the U.S. has refused to lift or suspend sanctions against Iran which is hit hard by the coronavirus.

So far, over 2,800 people in Iran have died of coronavirus and more than 42,000 infected with the virus.

PA/PA