MNA – The Governor of the Central bank of Iran (CBI) reacted to the Thursday trial operation of a humanitarian channel for the delivery of foodstuff and medicine to Iran without tripping over the US sanctions.

"If Americans really mean it when they say they are helping with the supply of medicine and agricultural goods, they must establish a banking mechanism for transfer and supply of financial resources required for purchase of the basic goods," Hemmati said.

"Some 2.5 million worth of medicine have been exchanged on demand of Swiss embassy," he said, "The financial resource for the job has been provided from CBI's assets in a Swiss bank and via Swiss companies."

The US Special Representative Brian Hook told a press briefing on Thursday that three shipments of cancer and transplant drugs have been sent to Iran through this channel and the transaction has been processed. He added that more companies were interested in using the channel and there were likely to be more similar transactions. “It’s the first one. There will be more to come.”

As reported, the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA) seeks to ensure that Swiss-based exporters and trading companies in the food, pharmaceutical and medical sectors have a secure payment channel with a Swiss bank through which payments for their exports to Iran are guaranteed.