Press: Iranian official dies of coronavirus

Seyyed Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, has died of the novel coronavirus, Report informs citing the Tasnim.

His death comes as other top Iranian officials have contracted the virus; the country has the highest death toll in the world after China.

The Expediency Discernment Council is an Advisory body under the Supreme Leader of Iran.

Earlier, several other senior Iranian officials, including Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iran's vice president for women and family affairs, were confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus.

According to the latest data published the day before, Iran recorded 978 cases of the infection since February 19. Of those, 54 were fatal, while 173 people recovered.

Iran demanded that the United States lift sanctions, which prevent the country from fighting the spread of the coronavirus.