Iran's UN envoy urged the United States to remove its "illegal, inhumane and immoral" sanctions against the Islamic republic, official IRNA news agency reported on Friday.

Majid Takht Ravanchi said that sanctions are as destructive as "terrorism and war crimes."

The US sanctions have hindered Iran's access to food, medicine and medical equipment amid COVID-19 pandemic, Takht Ravanchi was quoted as saying.

Addressing a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, he also called for removal of sieges on Yemenis and Palestinians, saying "no issue is more urgent than the immediate lifting of inhumane siege on the Yemeni people as well as illegal siege on the Gaza Strip."

The UN Security Council should oblige all warring sides in the conflicts to observe the rights of access to food supplies and humanitarian trades and medicine availability, the envoy added.