The head of Iran’s central bank reported Dec. 24 that the U.S. has allowed a transaction for the Iranian purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. Central Bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said an Iranian bank had received backing from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to transfer the money to a Swiss bank to pay for the vaccines. “They [Americans] have put sanctions on all our banks. They accepted this one case under the pressure of world public opinion,” Hemmati told state TV.