Abdullah bin Zayed affirms to Zarif the UAE’s support to Iran amid coronavirus

The United Arab Emirates' Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan expressed to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif the UAE’s support to Iran amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed offered, during a telephone call with Zarif, his condolences to the Iranian people due to the victims of the global pandemic, affirming the UAE's support to the Iranian people as they come through this crisis,” the UAE ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Sheikh Abdullah also “stressed the importance of collective work and efforts to survive such global challenges.”

The UAE Air Force had carried out a coronavirus aid mission to Iran on March 2 in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), where a military aircraft was dispatched with six medics onboard, as well as 7.5 tons of medical equipment and supplies including laboratory diagnostic kits, hundreds of thousands of gloves, surgical masks, in addition to other medical supplies provided by WHO, that could assist about 15,000 healthcare workers caring for coronavirus patients in Iran.

Iran has a total of 13,938 confirmed coronavirus cases and the death toll stood at 724 as of Sunday.