IRGC chief says Covid-19 vaccine production will increase

Major General Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, made the remarks on an inspection visit to Kerman Province in the southeast of Iran on Sunday.

Gen. Salami said that Iran is under oppressive sanctions while it is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Our country is in a different situation from all other countries in the world, and while we are struggling to treat and control the coronavirus, we are under the toughest global sanctions," he said.

"The Iranian people do not trust the countries that have such intentions (they intend to harm us even as we face the pandemic), so we import the vaccine we need from countries whose vaccine we trust in and know them, or we meet our demands by vaccines locally made in our own country," the top commander said.

He criticized some countries for offering vaccine supplies to Iran while they impose or abide by the sanctions on Iranian people.

"How do you talk about sending a vaccine under such dangerous circumstances where human lives are threatened? But in return, you have blocked the nation's money and subjected them to unjust and maximum sanctions?", Gen. Salami added.