Iran pledges 'any kind of assistance' to help India fight second COVID-19 wave

Iran on Sunday expressed the willingness to help India in its fight against COVID-19. Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki, in a letter to his Indian counterpart Harsh Vardhan on Sunday, stated that Iran is ready to supply India with “any kind of assistance required to rein in the new wave of COVID-19.” He added, that Iran expresses regret about the mounting infections from deadly wave hit in India and its death toll. “India is facing a COVID-19 Tsunami which has brought the country’s health system on the verge of collapse,” Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki said in the letter, according to state-run IRNA. He added that it would be impossible to tackle the existing coronavirus pandemic that challenges the healthcare system without empathy, cooperation, and assistance from all countries, as well as fair delivery of all effective means of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for all in need of medical help. 

''The government and people of Iran are ready to spare no technical assistance, expertise, and equipment in these difficult days and at the height of the plight of the dear citizens of India with the COVID-19 epidemic,'' he wrote.

The Iranian minister further urged political, expert, and economic support of international and non-governmental organizations to provide active assistance globally to combat the deadly health crisis. The country, expressing solidarity and pledging support said that while Iran has had difficulty meeting its needs for medicine, vaccine, and other medical equipment under tough arbitrary sanctions, it stands by India for technical and medical assistance.

'Will spare no effort to help India,' says Iran

“Iranian government and nation will spare no effort to help India fight the new wave of infection,” the Iranian minister said. Iran has been reeling under the fourth wave of COVID-19 UK variant. Namaki stated that the Islamic Republic was able to overcome much of the crisis relying on indigenous knowledge and expert of Iranian scientists.  Iran’s support poured in as India hit the grim milestone of 3,49,691 new COVID-19 confirmed cases, the highest single-day spike recorded since the pandemic hit. 

Last year, as Iran struggled with the US sanctions that severely impacted its efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, President Hassan Rouhani had written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for coordinated regional and international cooperation for the sustenance of medical costs. "This virus knows no boundary and claims, victims, without political, religious, ethnic, and racial considerations," Rouhani had stated. Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif in a tweet had said: "Viruses recognize no politics or geography. Nor should we."