Iran's Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zahra Ershadi has said that the US unilateral coercive and inhumane actions continue to pose a serious threat to the Iranian people's right to health and access to essential medicines.

Ershadi stated: "The coercive and unilateral inhumane actions of the United States continue to pose a serious threat to the right of the Iranian people to health and access to medicines and medical equipment."
 
"They claim that unilateral coercive measures do not include food and medicine, but in fact, due to sanctions and the exclusion of countries from the international banking system for financial transfers related to these purchases, it is impossible to access those items through trade and financial mechanisms. The existing one is taken away and the scope of these measures is extended to these goods as well," the envoy noted.
 
Ershadi stated: "Despite these unfair pressures, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made significant progress in the field of biotechnology and stem cells, and today we are proud to announce that Iran has become one of the few countries to produce the COVID-19 vaccine."
 
The Islamic Republic of Iran, despite facing difficult conditions such as unilateral inhumane sanctions imposed by Western countries, especially the United States, has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees for more than four decades and has generously shared its resources with them. A concrete example is the vaccination of large numbers of Afghan refugees in Iran, the diplomat elsewhere highlighted.