China and Iran led a group of countries in a joint push Thursday for the UN to pressure Washington to lift sanctions, which they charged are hindering the global fight against COVID-19.

"We urge you to request the complete and immediate lifting of such illegal, coercive and arbitrary measures of economic pressure (...) in order to ensure the full, effective and efficient response of all members of the international community to the coronavirus," they said in a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Dated Wednesday, the letter was published on Twitter by the Iranian mission to the UN.

The letter does not specifically mention Washington but all eight signatories currently face US sanctions.

The signatories said they want to "reject the politicization of such a pandemic."

In addition to Iran and China, two of the countries most affected by the coronavirus, the signatories include Russia, Venezuela, North Korea, Nicaragua, Cuba and Syria.

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German army translator sentenced for spying for Iran
Berlin (AFP) March 23, 2020
A German-Afghan translator for the German army was sentenced to six years and ten months in prison for treason on Monday after he was found guilty of having spied for Iran in exchange for money. Judges found that Abdul S., 51, had "passed on state secrets of a military nature to an employee of an Iranian intelligence service" in a "particularly serious case of treason", the higher regional court in Koblenz said in a statement. His German-Afghan wife Asiea S., 40, convicted of having aided and ab ... read more