Iran has asked for an emergency $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to combat the outbreak of the coronavirus, which has killed 429 people in the country.
Iran's Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati said Thursday he made the request last week in a letter to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.
The international lender has said it stands ready to support countries through a Rapid Financial Instrument.
Iran's economy has been battered by US sanctions, which have choked Tehran's ability to sell its oil. The recent outbreak of the virus there has compounded its economic woes, with all of Iran's neighbors closing their borders to Iranians and multiple nations cutting travel links with Iran, including shipping in some cases, which is affecting imports, as well.
The Iranian health ministry on Thursday reported 75 new deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll there to 429.
"We have identified 1,075 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, meaning that there are 10,075 infected people in the country. The death toll is 429," Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state television.
Multiple top officials in Iran — from its senior vice president to Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, Revolutionary Guard members, health workers and health ministry officials — have contracted the virus. Some of those officials have died.
Iran has one of the world's worst death tolls outside of China, the epicenter of the outbreak.
