TEHRAN (Dispatches) – The Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said on Saturday that Iraq has released $125mn of Iranian reserves to purchase 16 million doses of the COVAX vaccines and has transferred this amount to a European bank.
Ardakanian pointed to the release of $125 million of frozen Iran’s reserves, added the money will be transferred from Tejarat Bank of Iraq to the Swiss Bank to pay for the purchase of 16 million doses of the COVAX vaccines (a collection of vaccines approved by the World Health Organization).
The Iranian energy minister added that the work of the payment and transfer of the money is expected to be done by the end of the week to pay for the vaccines and these vaccines will be supplied to the Iranian Ministry of Health soon.
Meanwhile, according to a statement by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance of Iran, the Iranian economy minister Farhad Dejpasand met with the Iraqi economy minister and his accompanying delegation and the two sides discussed the necessary mechanisms and the timeline over the unpaid bills to Iran by the Iraqi side.
Also in this meeting, the two sides presented reports on cooperation between the two countries in various economic fields, including customs, banking, insurance, and investment.
Iraq owes Iran billions of dollars worth of unpaid gas bills which are frozen in the neighboring country due to the inhuman and illegal U.S. sanctions.