June 27, 2021 ’s regional contribution Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stressed Iran’s undeniable role in maintaining security in West Asia, saying without Tehran’s collaboration the 2 security issue in Afghanistan and the whole region cannot be solved, IRNA reported. National

President: Spread of COVID-19 INTERVIEW Leader approves pardons, Exclusive reduced terms for inmates declining in Iran Sanctions have worst effects on EB patients Rouhani lauds Leader for Iran unveils homemade getting Iranian vaccine Sputnik V vaccine Iranian physicians well aware of updated scientific knowledge on EB

National Desk

leader.ir The sanctions imposed by the US and Western countries on Iran have not The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei only created livelihood problems for many families but they have their approved pardons and sentence reduction or adjustment for 5,156 worst effects on people suffering from epidermolysis bullosa (EB), also prisoners convicted by general and revolution courts as well as the known as butterfly patients, and have caused several deaths. Justice Organization of the Armed Forces in marking the birth Although the problems faced by EB patients have been temporarily anniversary of Imam Reza (PBUH) – the eighth Shia imam. solved with the arrival of a shipment of the wound dressings needed by This came after the Chief of Iran’s Judiciary and President-elect them, concerns about the issue still remain and have become the main dif- Ebrahim Raeisi, in a letter to the Leader, requested the pardon and ficulties faced by families of such patients. reduction or revision of convictions of selected offenders whose Hamid Reza Hashemi Golpaygani, the founder and managing cases have been reviewed by the Judiciary’s Amnesty and Pardon director of Iran EB Home Foundation, told Iran Daily that US unilateral Commission and were determined to be qualified for reduced sen- withdrawal from Iran’s 2015 nuclear tences, Fars News Agency reported on Saturday. deal, also known as JCPOA, and the The official amnesty request was approved in line with the imple- escalation of sanctions against the mentation of the 11th paragraph of the Constitution’s Article 110, country caused the problems to arise. according to the report. He added that contrary to the claims Raeisi was elected as Iran’s eighth president after he garnered of US officials who say that foods and about 62 percent of the vote in the June 18 election. He will succeed medicines are not subject to sanctions, current President , who has served two four-year the move has created many difficulties terms in office. for those in charge of providing treat- Raeisi is due to assume office on August 3 after being sworn in. IRNA ments for EB patients. He stressed that the problems creat- ranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sat- country’s scientists,” Rouhani added, noting that ed by sanctions in the field of transpor- urday that the trend of the spread of the coro- such spiritual support is not comparable with ma- IRAN DAILY tation, shipping and banking relations Hamid Reza Hashemi Golpaygani Iran denies applying for Inavirus is declining in the country. terialist issues. also caused the medicines, required by Addressing the country’s coronavirus task- On Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei received the EB patient, not to be delivered to Iran on time. force, President Rouhani noted that the country is first dose of the domestically-developed COVI- “With the intensification of sanctions, 15 EB patients died in Iran from UNSC non-permanent membership not facing a new wave of the coronavirus. How- ran Barekat coronavirus vaccine. May 2018 to May 2019, directly due to the lack of special dressings for the ever, he said that the situation in some provinces “The homemade vaccine is a great glory for disease,” he said. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokes man Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed such as Bushehr, Hormuzgan, Sistan and Bal- the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the president said, He added that usually when the wounds of EB patients become infected, reports that the country has applied for non-permanent membership uchestan and Kerman is different, according to adding that Iranians must be proud of the great they need a special dressing called Mepilex, a product of a Swedish com- in the United Nations Security Council. Mehr News Agency. job that the local scientists and knowledge-based pany, noting that based on research, over 50 countries in the world have Asked by reporters about the media reports that Iran had lost a The Health Ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sa- companies have done in developing the COVID decided to use this product to treat patients’ wounds. bid to win a seat as a non-permanent member of the UN Security dat Lari said 965 coronavirus cases were admit- vaccines inside the country. He noted that this dressing is currently the most important need of EB Council for the 2022-23 term, Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Friday ted to hospitals across the country from Friday to Pointing to the permission for the rollout of patients. that Iran had not basically applied for non-permanent membership, Saturday. two Iranian vaccines, the president said more “At that time, we had many conversations with the Swedish company Tasnim News Agency reported. She added that the total number of positive cas- homegrown products will be available within the to provide the dressings. They initially did not respond, but later they an- He noted that the United Arab Emirates has been the only Asian es exceeded 3,157,900 following the detection of coming weeks and months. nounced that due to the sanctions, it is not possible to transfer money from state to seek a nomination. 7,034 new cases during the same period. On Saturday, Iran unveiled its copy of Russian- Iran to Sweden,” he said. “Considering that the non-permanent members of the Security She further put the death toll at 83,711, saying the made Sputnik V vaccines in a ceremony held in “After the death of those 15 people, we appealed to the media for help Council are elected by secret ballot and physically (with ballots), disease took the lives of 123 patients in 24 hours. the northern Alborz Province, according to Mehr so that our voice could be heard by the whole world. Following negotia- the intent of the state that has secretly voted for the Islamic Repub- During Saturday’s coronavirus taskforce meet- News Agency. tions conducted by Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations lic of Iran is not clear. However, it is not unlikely that such a mea- ing, Rouhani praised Leader of the Islamic Revo- Health Minister Saeed Namaki and the spokes- with related officials, the UNICEF’s representative in Iran visited the EB sure has been taken with rogue purposes,” he added. lution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for his in- man for the Food and Drug Administration Ki- Home Foundation and confirmed the problem,” he said. The spokesman also noted that Iran had voted for the UAE in the sistence on receiving a homemade vaccine for the anoush Jahanpour attended the ceremony which He noted that thanks to the financial assistance of Germany, UNICEF process of election of the UNSC non-permanent members, saying coronavirus, saying such a move has heartened was held in Baharestan industrial complex in Al- delivered 5.8 tons of dressings to Iran’s Health Ministry to be supplied to such stance has been declared in Iranian Foreign Minister Moham- local scientists and reveals the Leader’s support borz Province. patients. mad Javad Zarif’s letter to his Emirati counterpart. for Iranian science and technology, according to Addressing the ceremony, Jahanpour said that Khatibzadeh explained that such incidents have not been unprec- Tasnim News Agency. Iran has now joined the club of major countries edented; for instance, Peru has won a vote, while Brazil was the The president said that Ayatollah Khamenei’s that produce COVID-19 vaccines. only candidate in the Latin American group for the UNSC non-per- decision was a very valuable move. Jahanpour added that later this week, the sec- manent membership. “The Congo had withdrawn (from candidacy) “While the Leader could have used the for- ond Iranian-made vaccine produced by the Ira- before the voting, however, three states have voted for it.” eign vaccine much earlier, he preferred to get the nian will receive the necessary homemade vaccine, and it was an extraordinarily permits to join Iran’s general vaccination after effective encouragement for the activities of our COVIran Barakat got the license last week.

Envoy: Iran committed to Comprehensive MohammadMohammad AliAli RajabiRajabi Safeguards Agreement, no more no less MEHR He went on to say that the dressings required by Iranian EB patients within the next 12 months have been provided. Iran’s permanent representative previous steps away from the tinue necessary verification and Expressing concern about running out of dressings, he harbored hope to Vienna-based international 2015 nuclear deal in response monitoring work in the country. that the sanctions would end soon. organizations reminded the Inter- to the US unilateral withdrawal Gharibabadi said, “Data re- Golpaygani said that EB is a genetic medical condition, noting that usu- national Atomic Energy Agency in 2018 and the other parties’ cording was a political decision ally 95% of cases caused by consanguineous marriages. (IAEA) that the country is only failure to fulfill their commit- by Iran to facilitate, including, He said that global statistics show that one out of every 50,000 children committed to honor its obliga- ments. the political talks and to help its might be born with the EB disease, pointing out that between 1,000 to tions under the Comprehensive At that time, the IAEA and success and shouldn’t be con- 1,200 EB patients are estimated to live in Iran, 850 of whom have so far Safeguards Agreements (CSA). the Atomic Energy Organiza- sidered as obligation in relation been identified. Kazem Gharibabadi made tion of Iran (AEOI) reached a with the agency.” According to him, due to the high role of consanguineous marriages in the remarks on Friday after the temporary bilateral technical “Since Iran is continuing the the occurrence of this ailment, special genetic tests should be performed to UN nuclear agency demanded understanding, under which implementation of its CSA, diagnose this issue before marriage. “an immediate response” from the latter would continue to continuation or discontinuation “EB is a congenital disease. Patients are usually born with symptoms Iran on whether it would extend use cameras to record informa- of recording has nothing to do such as severe wounds, and if their wounds are mild, the illness will prog- a monitoring deal that expired tion at its nuclear sites for three with Iran’s Safeguards obliga- ress in the future. In addition to the skin, the mucosa, esophagus, heart and overnight, Press TV reported. months, but it would retain tions. Undoubtedly, any deci- other internal organs of the patient will gradually be affected by the dis- The IAEA’s statement sum- the information exclusively. sion to be taken by Iran in this ease,” he observed. marized a report by its chief If the US sanctions were lifted regard, would only be based on The managing director of Iran’s EB Home Foundation said that, thus Rafael Grossi to the agency’s completely within that period its political considerations, and far, no treatment has been found for this ailment worldwide, adding that Board of Governors. in a verifiable manner, Tehran the agency cannot, and should a lot of research has been carried out on the disease in Austria and France. Back in February, Iran would provide the footage in- not, consider it as something it “We established relations with several EB home foundations of the for- stopped the voluntary imple- formation to the UN nuclear was entitled to,” he added. eign countries. mentation of the Additional watchdog, otherwise it would The Iranian envoy also criti- “In the field of EB treatment, we have the same advancements in medi- Protocol to the Non-Prolifera- be deleted forever. cized Grossi for reporting to cine as developed countries, but due to sanctions, they provide better ser- tion Treaty (NPT) Safeguards The understanding expired members of the IAEA’s Board vices and facilities in this regard,” he said. Treaty, which stipulates en- in May amid diplomatic efforts of Governors, saying that the He noted that surgeries related to the complications caused by EB are hanced access to nuclear sites in Vienna, Austria, to revive the agency has no obligation to re- performed in Iran in the best possible manner, and Iranian physicians are and snap inspections by the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the port on the expired joint under- well-aware of the updated scientific knowledge which are available in the IAEA. Joint Comprehensive Plan of standing as well as data record- world about the disease. The halt came under the Action (JCPOA). ing. Emphasizing that the foundation is run without any government finan- Strategic Action Plan to Coun- Iran and the IAEA agreed to “What Iran is committed cial assistance, he thanked Iranians, residing inside and outside the coun- ter Sanctions, a law passed in extend the understanding for to fulfill are obligations un- try, who provide financial support for the foundation. December 2020 by the Iranian a further month until June 24 der Safeguards Agreement, no Parliament, and adds to Iran’s allowing the agency to con- more or less,” he stressed.