Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei has said that coronavirus is ‘not that big a deal’ even though the country’s death toll has hit 77 and one of his senior advisers has died of the disease.
Khamenei called on Iranians to pray against the virus ‘as prayer can solve many problems.’
As of today, 77 in the country have died from the virus and there are 2,336 confirmed cases.
One of Khamenei’s senior advisors Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of the Expediency Council which is hand-picked by the Supreme Leader, died aged 71 in a Tehran hospital yesterday after falling sick with the virus.
Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei (pictured in Tehran last week) has said that coronavirus is ‘not that big a deal’ even though the country’s death toll has hit 77 – including one of his senior advisers
‘This calamity is not that big of a deal, and that there have been bigger ones in the past,’ Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency today.
‘I do not want to underestimate this issue of course, but let us not overestimate it either,’ he said. He added that it will affect the country for a while and then be over.
Despite this, Iran’s supreme leader put the Islamic Republic’s armed forces on alert today to assist health officials in combating the outbreak.
After downplaying the coronavirus as recently as last week, Iranian authorities have now said they had plans to potentially mobilize 300,000 soldiers and volunteers to confront the virus.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s decision was announced after state media broadcast images of the 80-year-old leader planting a tree wearing disposable gloves ahead of Iran’s upcoming arbor day.
Khamenei (pictured wearing protective gloves today) also urged citizens to follow the health authorities’ instructions and praised their ‘honesty’ and ‘transparency,’ saying they have been keeping the public up to date since day one
Iranian media reported that 23 members of parliament now had the virus, as well as the head of the country’s emergency services.
‘Whatever helps public health and prevents the spread of the disease is good and what helps to spread it is sin,’ Khamenei said, who has not worn gloves at past arbor day plantings.
Khamenei also urged citizens to follow the health authorities’ instructions and praised their ‘honesty’ and ‘transparency,’ saying they have been keeping the public up to date since day one.
Mohammad Mirmohammadi is one of several regime members to have caught the virus, after vice president Masoumeh Ebtekar and visibly struggling health minister Iraj Harirchi were also infected.
Mohammad Mirmohammadi (pictured left), a member of the Expediency Council which is hand-picked by the Supreme Leader of Iran, died aged 71 after falling sick with coronavirus. In this picture he is seated alongside two other officials, including Ali Akbar Velayti (centre)
It comes as the Iranian regime was accused of ‘endangering the lives of Iranians and the world’ after alarming videos of worshippers licking a shrine emerged online.
There are also fears that Iran is covering up the true scale of the crisis, with official figures showing a suspiciously high death rate – suggesting there may be more infections than the regime is willing to admit.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has claimed that the death toll is as high as 650 – nearly ten times the official count.
Experts worry Iran’s percentage of deaths to infections, now around 3.3%, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be far greater than current figures show.
Iran stands alone in how the virus has affected its government, even compared to hard-hit China, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Iran’s claims to have the virus under control lost further credibility last week when the deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, was taken into quarantine, just a day after sweating profusely at a press conference (pictured)
State media announced Mirmohammadi’s death yesterday morning in the virus’s most direct blow to the regime so far.
The Expediency Council which he sat on advises the Ayatollah and helps to settle disputes between the Supreme Leader and the Iranian parliament.
He previously served as the head of the presidency under former Presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamenei, now the country’s supreme leader.
Mirmohammadi’s mother had died of the coronavirus in recent days as well, Iranian media reported.
Those sick also include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar and Iraj Harirchi, the head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who tried to downplay the virus before falling ill.
Today, lawmaker Abdolreza Mesri told Iranian state television’s Young Journalists Club program that 23 members of parliament had the coronavirus. He urged all lawmakers to avoid the public.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s decision to put the armed forces on alert was announced after state media broadcast images of the 80-year-old leader planting a tree wearing disposable gloves ahead of Iran’s upcoming arbor day
‘These people have a close relationship with the people and they carry different viruses from different parts of the country, which may create a new virus, so we recommend the lawmakers to cut off their relationship with the public for now,’ Mesri said.
The semiofficial ILNA and Tasnim news agencies in Iran also reported that Pirhossein Koulivand, the head of the country’s emergency services, had come down with the new illness. They offered no other immediate details.
An activist group also said Tuesday that Wikipedia’s Farsi-language website appeared to be disrupted in Iran after a close confidant to the supreme leader died of the new coronavirus.
The advocacy group NetBlocks linked Mirmohammadi’s death to the disruption, though Iranian officials and its state media did not immediately acknowledge it.
NetBlocks described the disruption to accessing Farsi Wikipedia as being nationwide, saying its technical testing suggests the online encyclopedia is being blocked by the same mechanism used to block Twitter and Facebook. Those social media websites have been banned since Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election and Green Movement protests.
Some Iranians said they couldn’t access Wikipedia’s Farsi website since Monday night. Others said they could, including through the site’s mobile-friendly pages.
‘The new restrictions come as Iran faces a growing crisis following the loss of senior state figures to coronavirus and a spate of criticism and misinformation have spread through social media,’ NetBlocks said in its analysis.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees the volunteer-edited encyclopedia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NetBlocks previously reported internet disruptions affecting Iran in recent days and users across the Islamic Republic have reported problems.
The disruption raises fears of Iran potentially shutting off the internet entirely again, as it did for a week during economic protests in November. Iran separately has created its own so-called ‘halal’ net of government-approved websites.
Meanwhile Tuesday, the Middle East’s largest airline, Emirates, said it had to reduce or ground flights due to the new virus. Because of the slowdown, the government-owned carrier has asked its employees to take paid and even unpaid leave for up to a month at a time. Emirates’ operates out of Dubai, the world’s busiest for international travel.
‘We have been tested before and Emirates will come out stronger,’ Chief Operating Officer Adel Al-Redha said.
The world’s largest airline trade association, IATA, says Mideast carriers have already lost around $100 million in revenue due to a drop in ticket sales because of disruptions caused by the virus.