Iran Had No Choice but to Be Self-Reliant in COVID-19 Fight: Rouhani

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the country had no other choice but to stand on its own two feet and rely on domestic production in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

Speaking on Saturday in the last meeting of the National Task Force Against Coronavirus during his term in office, Rouhani said, “From the very beginning of the outbreak of coronavirus in the country, we had to rely on our own domestic strength.”

“There was no help for Iran, so we had to rely solely on our own domestic resources to provide all the equipment and medicines we needed,” he added.

Rouhani said the decisions of the National Task Force Against Coronavirus have always been based on collective wisdom and reviewed and finalised in several stages in an expert process.

Explaining the problems in fighting the outbreak of coronavirus, Rouhani said, “One of the most important problems in this regard was the creation of dichotomies in various issues. The first one was the dichotomy of science and religion, which was very dangerous, and few tried to put religious teachings against scientific teachings in the way of fighting coronavirus. The Supreme Leader and the top religious authorities and scholars helped a lot in eliminating this dichotomy.”

Referring to the closure of schools and universities during the outbreak of coronavirus, the president said, “Despite the closure of face-to-face education, cyberspace and the IRIB have helped prevent the education of millions of students from stopping.”

The President further mentioned providing and injecting vaccines as one of the achievements of the 12th Government and said, “Preventing the effects of these dichotomies and the self-sacrifice of the medical staff during all this time that has passed since the outbreak of COVID-19 are other highlights of the government’s work.”

The President also pointed out that the government did its best to support those affected by coronavirus, saying, “I must also thank and appreciate the faithful help at various times. The Twelfth Government did its best to combat coronavirus, and the National Task Force Against Coronavirus in the 13th Government will continue to work to combat and control this disease.”

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