Iran has returned 820,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines donated by Poland because they were manufactured in the United States.

Mohammad Hashemi, an official in the country’s Health Ministry, said Poland donated about a million doses of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine to Iran.

“But when the vaccines arrived in Iran, we found out that 820,000 doses of them which were imported from Poland were from the United States,”, “After coordination with the Polish ambassador to Iran, it was decided that the vaccines would be returned.” he said.

In 2020, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, ruled out the prospect of American or British vaccines entering the country, describing them as forbidden. As per the reports of AP News, Iran only imports vaccines from Western countries that aren’t made in the United States or the United Kingdom.

Iran is currently struggling with its sixth wave of coronavirus infections and authorities say the aggressive omicron variant is now dominant in the country. With more than 135,000 total deaths from COVID-19, according to official numbers, Iran has the highest national death toll in the Middle East.

Iran has relied on Sinopharm, the state-backed Chinese vaccine, but offers citizens different other shots to choose from like Oxford-AstraZeneca, Russia’s Sputnik V, Indian firm Bharat’s Covaxin and its homegrown COVIran Barekat shot. British-Swedish AstraZeneca makes up a substantial amount of Iran’s inoculations.