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DW \u2014 Despite a high coronavirus death toll, Iran’s hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei has called for a ban on BioNTech-Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.<\/p>\nDW \u2014 Despite a high coronavirus death toll, Iran’s hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei has called for a ban on BioNTech-Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.<\/p>\n
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a live television broadcast on Friday that he has told the government to reject\u00a0British and American-made vaccines.<\/p>\n
“Imports of US and British vaccines into the country are banned. I have told this to officials and I’m saying it publicly now,” Khamenei said.<\/p>\n
The statement followed a recent rise in tensions<\/a> between Iran and the US, exemplified by Iran’s seizure of a South Korean oil tanker<\/a> earlier in the week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The announcement effectively prohibits the three major vaccines that have so far been given the green light around the world.<\/p>\n The German BioNTech vaccine is co-produced by the American firm Pfizer, the Moderna vaccine is a US achievement and the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine \u2014 cheaper than the other two options \u2014 is\u00a0from the UK.<\/p>\n Khamenei though praised on-going efforts to produce a vaccine inside Iran.<\/p>\n Iran has been particularly hard-hit<\/a> by the coronavirus pandemic with almost 56,000 deaths since the virus reached the country.<\/p>\n Khamenei\u00a0also expressed a lack of interest in the US returning to the nuclear deal<\/a> which was abandoned by Trump, although he insisted that sanctions be lifted.<\/p>\n “We are in no rush and we are not insisting on [the US’s] return. Our demand… is the lifting of sanctions,” Khamenei said.<\/p>\nWhere will Iran get its vaccines?<\/h2>\n
No rush to negotiate with the US<\/h2>\n