Iran will kick off its coronavirus vaccination campaign within a week, President Hassan Rouhani has said, after the country received its first batch of Russia's Sputnik V jab.

The Islamic republic is fighting the Middle East's deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus, with over 58,000 lives lost out of more than 1.4 million cases of infection.

Iran has bought two million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told AFP. The first batch arrived in the country on Thursday, and the country is scheduled to receive two more batches by February 28.

“Vaccinations will start this very week; this is a real cause for celebration,” Rouhani told a televised meeting of Iran's Covid-19 taskforce.