A volunteer woman wearing a face mask and gloves to curb the spread of the new coronavirus sews face masks, in a mosque in southern Tehran, Iran, April 5, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

TEHRAN - An Iranian vice president said the United States cannot block Iran's request for a US$5-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for fighting the novel coronavirus, state TV reported Wednesday.

"The IMF policy should be fair in assessing and approving loan requests" for its members, Nahavandian was quoted as saying

Mohammad Nahavandian, Iran's vice president for economic affairs, said that "no country in the IMF has the right to veto" the loan requests.

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"The IMF policy should be fair in assessing and approving loan requests" for its members, Nahavandian was quoted as saying.

Many countries support Iran's loan request, he said, adding that "when we face the outbreak of disease worldwide, it is important to understand each other."

On March 12, it was announced that the Central Bank of Iran had asked the IMF for the US$5-billion loan to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.

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On Sunday, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said that the recent US block of the loan by the IMF to Iran amounts to "crimes against humanity."