{"id":21554,"date":"2020-03-22T16:46:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T11:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/irans-khamenei-rejects-u-s-help-offer-vows-to-defeat-coronavirus\/"},"modified":"2020-03-22T16:46:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T11:16:27","slug":"irans-khamenei-rejects-u-s-help-offer-vows-to-defeat-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=21554","title":{"rendered":"Iran’s Khamenei rejects U.S. help offer, vows to defeat coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reuters<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUBAI (Reuters) <\/em><\/strong>– The United States’ offer to help Iran in its fight against the new coronavirus pandemic is strange, Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Sunday, describing U.S. leaders as \u201ccharlatans and liars\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington has offered humanitarian assistance to its longtime foe, the Middle Eastern country most affected by the coronavirus, with 1,685 deaths and 21,638 people infected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions between the two countries have been running high since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump exited Tehran\u2019s 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeveral times Americans have offered to help us to fight the pandemic. That is strange because you face shortages in America. Also you are accused of creating this virus,\u201d said Khamenei, an anti-U.S. hardliner who has the final say in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not know whether it is true. But when there is such an allegation, can a wise man trust you and accept your help offer? \u2026 You could be giving medicines to Iran that spread the virus or cause it to remain permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frictions increased when Trump ordered a U.S. drone strike that killed the top commander of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Soleimani, on Jan. 3. Iran retaliated by hitting U.S. targets in Iraq on Jan. 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur number one enemy is America. It is the most wicked, sinister enemy of Iran \u2026 its leaders are terrorists \u2026 Liars and charlatans,\u201d said Khamenei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian authorities have blamed U.S. sanctions for hampering its efforts to curb the outbreak and President Hassan Rouhani has urged Americans to call on their government to lift sanctions as Iran fights the coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China, a party to Iran\u2019s nuclear deal, has urged the United States to lift sanctions on Iran immediately amid Tehran\u2019s response to the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the United States sent Iran a blunt message this week: the spread of the virus will not save it from U.S. sanctions that are choking off its oil revenues and isolating its economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khamenei, who canceled his annual speech for Persian new year from the holy Shi\u2019ite Muslim city of Mashhad on March 20 because of the outbreak, said Iran would triumph over the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Islamic Republic has the capability to overcome any kind of crisis and challenges, including the coronavirus outbreak,\u201d said Khamenei, who called on people to stay at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many Iranians avoided traveling during the Persian new year holiday, police said millions have defied warnings issued by officials to avoid unnecessary trips aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office of Tehran\u2019s governor said all shopping centers will be closed in the capital from Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly pharmacies and shops that provide essential goods will remain open in Tehran,\u201d Iranian state TV reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Catherine Evans<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters DUBAI (Reuters) – The United States’ offer to help Iran in its fight against the new coronavirus pandemic is strange, Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Sunday, describing U.S. leaders as \u201ccharlatans and liars\u201d. Washington has offered humanitarian assistance to its longtime foe, the Middle Eastern country most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}