| Iran Pleads
For $5BN IMF Loan As Deaths Soar Past 4,000; US To Block
Funds
By Tyler Durden
April 08, 2020
"Information
Clearing House"
- Iran is desperately pleading for the International
Monetary Fund to approve a $5 billion emergency loan to
help the outbreak-ravaged country to survive.
“I urge international organizations to fulfill
their duties... we are a member of the IMF... There
should be no discrimination in giving loans,”
President Hassan Rouhani
said in televised remarks Wednesday.
He further slammed US sanctions on the Islamic
Republic as “economic and medical terrorism” — given
the US-led near total economic blockade of the country
has severely hampered Tehran's response to the COVID-19
pandemic. There are currently over 64,500 confirmed
cases and as of Wednesday this includes a grim milestone
of surpassing 4,000 deaths after months
ago Iran became the first epicenter outside China,
followed by Italy.
Of course, the U.S. is expected
to block the loan:
The U.S. plans to block Iran’s requested
$5 billion emergency loan from the
International Monetary Fund for funding Tehran says
it needs to fight its coronavirus crisis.
|
Are You Tired Of
The Lies And
Non-Stop Propaganda?
|
Advocates for sanctions relief say that current
sanctions will ultimately make the global response to
the pandemic worse for populations in other countries as
well, given without Iranian hospitals having necessary
access to supplies and crucial medicines, the virus will
continue to fester there even after the rest of the
world pivots toward recovery.
But as the WSJ reports, Tehran is unlikely to see a
single penny in
IMF relief:
The IMF has said it is in talks with officials in
Iran to determine its eligibility for the loan.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported on
Wednesday that the US - the IMF’s largest
shareholder - planned to block the request.
It cited senior Trump administration
officials as saying that Iran’s government had
billions of dollars in bank accounts still at its
disposal, and that the loan might be used
to help its economy rather than on combating
Covid-19 or fund terrorist operations.
In early March Iran’s Central Bank chief Abdolnaser
Hemmati first addressed a letter to the head of the IMF
requesting the five billion dollars from the RFI
emergency fund “to help our fight against the
coronavirus”.
At that
time Iran's
death toll was 500, but
now stands at just over 4,000.
Iran has
argued that it is "a dues-paying member of the IMF and
has not had a loan in decades,"
according to the
assessment of Mohammad Marandi, professor of American
Studies at Tehran University.
"As a country that has paid its dues and without any
debt to the IMF, Iran is entitled to a loan to fight the
coronavirus pandemic at the time when the US has
weaponised the virus against Iran,"
Marandi added.
"Source"
Do you agree or disagree? Post
your comment here | 
