With 81 new fatalities, death toll due to COVID-19 reaches 8,506 TEHRAN: Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday urged UN Security Council members, especially veto-wielding China and Russia, to oppose a US plan to extend an arms embargo on the Islamic republic. “We will reach a point ... when, based on Resolution 2231, all arms embargoes on Iran will be lifted,” said Rouhani “The Americans are already angry and upset ... and are preparing a resolution and want to bring it to the Security Council,” he told a televised Cabinet meeting. The ban on selling weapons to Iran is set to be progressively eased from October in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2231. The weapons include battle tanks, combat aircraft, warships and missiles or missile systems, according to the resolution. But a UN embargo on materials, goods, equipment and technology that Iran could use for its ballistic missile program will remain in place until October 2023. The EU has said it will continue to enforce its own arms embargo against Iran after the lifting of the first UN embargo. Resolution 2231 blessed the landmark international agreement reached in 2015 that placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program. Washington said last week it had shared a draft resolution with Russia to extend the ban, with Moscow and Beijing having already voiced opposition to the measure. “Russia and China need to join a global consensus on Iran’s conduct,” said Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the UN. COVID-19 cases Iran on Wednesday announced more than 2,000 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in line with a recent surge in cases that President Hassan Rouhani attributed to increased testing. “When more tests are done, then naturally more cases are identified,” Rouhani said. But the high number of recent cases “does not have a negative aspect to it, and people should not worry,” he added. Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the 2,011 infections confirmed in the past 24 hours had raised Iran’s overall caseload to 177,938. She added that fatalities had reached 8,506 with 81 new deaths over the same period. The ministry says it has carried out more than 1 million COVID-19 tests since it reported the country’s first cases on Feb. 19. There has been skepticism at home and abroad about Iran’s official figures, with concerns the real toll could be much higher.