Tehran, Apr 5 (IANS): Iran's envoy to Belgium on Saturday asked the European Union to oppose US sanctions on Iran amid the surge of COVID-19 pandemic, state TV reported.

The "unilateral and illegal sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran under the guise of its maximum pressure campaign undermine the country's ability to effectively battle the virus without any international support in the long run," Gholam Hossein Dehqani said in a letter to Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Xinhua reported.

Dehqani urged the European Union to defy "the inhumane" US sanctions as they infringe on the ordinary citizens' rights to meet their basic needs.

On Friday, Iran's envoy to the UN office in Geneva Esmaeil Baqaei Hamaneh said that the US "cruel and illegal" sanctions against Iran have resulted in difficulties for ordinary Iranians' access to medicine and medical equipment and services as the country is engaged in the combat with the novel coronavirus.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday censured US for maintaining its sanctions against Iran despite the outbreak of COVID-19 across the country.

Iran's health ministry on Saturday announced 55,743 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country and a total of 3,452 deaths.