Chris Murphy had penned a March 26 letter, signed by ten other Democratic senators, asking the Trump administration to ensure that Iran and Venezuela can import medical supplies and other humanitarian goods to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

“Right now, our sanctions do not allow for that,” he told reporters recently, the National Interest reported.

“If this epidemic continues to grow and spread in Iran, it will result in the death of innocent people, partially as a result of US policy that does not accrue to the national security benefit of our country.”

“Remember, if we don’t beat it there, we don’t beat it here. This virus doesn’t respect borders,” he added. “It’s just good public health policy to help even our adversaries beat back this scourge.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that its sanctions campaign does not prevent Iran from buying humanitarian goods and that it is ready to donate aid directly if needed.

But the Murphy letter said that “medical suppliers and relief organizations simply steer clear of doing business in Iran and Venezuela in fear of accidentally getting caught in the web of US sanctions.”

On Tuesday, Iranian Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoosh Jahanpoor said that 98 deaths from the disease were registered in the previous 24 hours.

He said the new deaths brought the total number of fatalities to 4,683 since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran in late February.

Jahanpoor added 1,574 new infections had been recorded over the past 24 hours, taking the overall number of confirmed cases to 74,877.

He noted that 48,129 of hospitalized patients had recovered and been discharged and that 3,691 people are in critical condition.