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Iran Trying to Gain Access to Unfrozen Assets to Fight Virus

Iran Trying to Gain Access to Unfrozen Assets to Fight Virus

(Bloomberg) -- Iran is seeking to gain access to $1.6 billion in assets that had been frozen in Luxembourg to help fight the coronavirus outbreak.

“We will do everything we can to transfer the funds or exchange them for medicine and essential goods,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a news briefing. Iran is the Middle East epicenter of the coronavirus, with 4,585 fatalities and 73,303 cases reported.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that the money had been released after Iran had won a legal case against U.S. efforts to use it to compensate families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bloomberg News hasn’t been able to confirm the money has been released.

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