South Korea is pushing for humanitarian trade transactions with Iran to help the country fight the fast-spreading novel coronavirus without violating U.S. sanctions.

A senior official of the Foreign Ministry said on Friday that three approaches were being taken simultaneously with regard to the issue, including one involving General License No. 8.

The licensing rule announced in February by the U.S. Department of Treasury authorizes certain humanitarian transactions with Iran. It would require South Korean financial organizations to follow through with more strict compliance rules. 

Seoul launched related preparations on Monday and expects to deliver goods through the channel early next month. 

The other two approaches involve setting up a South Korean-style humanitarian transaction channel and using the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement. 

Earlier, Seoul provided Tehran with 200-thousand U.S. dollar worth of humanitarian goods, including 500 disinfectant sprayers and two DNA amplifiers.