Iran is calling on President Joe Biden to remove harsh sanctions levied by the previous administration that Iran’s leaders say are impeding their access to coronavirus vaccinations made abroad.

“Since [Biden’s] administration claims not to be anti-science like the previous one, … one expects it to free the transfer of Iran’s own foreign exchange resources to fight the coronavirus and for health and food, and lift banking sanctions quickly,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a televised news conference on Tuesday.

After unilaterally withdrawing from the nuclear deal in 2018, former President Donald Trump imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran that had been eased under the pact negotiated between Tehran and world powers. The Treasury Department issued exemptions for the delivery of medicine, food and humanitarian supplies, but Iran says the sanctions have scared off foreign banks and companies involved in the distribution and production of vaccines.   

Iran is still fighting the Middle East’s worst COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 1.37 million infected and over 57,000 dead from the virus, according to official figures. Despite the massive caseload, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned the import of vaccines made in the United States or United Kingdom earlier this month, saying he had “no confidence in them.”