By Yaghoub Fazeli

DUBAI -- US sanctions against Iran do not allow the republic to help Americans against the coronavirus, said a senior Iranian official on Saturday.

“We sympathize with the oppressed people of America who have been struggling with the coronavirus crisis due to a lack of facilities, but it is a pity that the unfair sanctions imposed by the vengeful government of America prevent us from helping Americans,” lawmaker and member of the Expediency Council Mostafa Mirsalim tweeted.

Iranian officials have stressed that any US help to combat coronavirus will be rejected but have offered to help the US on more than one occasion.

Iran’s Basij Force offered to send medical supplies to those in need in America on Sunday after converting the former US embassy in Tehran into a mask production workshop.

The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami had also previously offered help to the US against coronavirus.

“I say to [US officials] that if the people of America need help, we are ready to help them, but we do not need their help,” he said last week.

As of Monday, 2,640 in Iran have died from coronavirus, and there are 38,309 confirmed cases. In the US, 2,471 have died and there are 141,136 confirmed infections. -- Al Arabiya English