Coronavirus Outbreak in Iran: Regime’s Fear and Infighting Increases Parallelly With the Death Toll

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) announced on Friday, that the coronavirus has so far claimed the lives of over 30,700 people across Iran. As the coronavirus death toll rises in Iran so does the regime’s infighting and fear over the possibility of an uprising.

For three consecutive months, the regime’s officials have been covering up and downplaying the coronavirus crisis, to avoid another uprising. Now as the death toll increases, the regime’s officials, fearing that their inaction and cover-up might expedite their downfall, reluctantly admit to some dimensions of this catastrophe.

On Thursday, regime’s Health Minister, Said Namaki, in an interview with the state-run Donya-e Eqtesad daily, said: When [the Coronavirus outbreak] was announced in China in late January, in an emergency meeting with the First Vice President, I suggested to cut off direct flights to and from China, and immediately after recognizing the first cases of infection in the country, I proposed tightening restrictions, including the closure of universities, schools, gatherings, Friday prayers, weddings, funerals, shrines, cinemas, and stadiums, etc.”

His remarks reject the regime’s president, Hassan Rouhani’s bogus claims of the regime being transparent and caring for people’s lives since the first day and that these “actions” have resulted in regime’s controlling the virus and people could resume business activities.

In addition to Namaki, Habibollah Sayyari, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of the regime’s conventional Armed Forces told the state-run Aftab on Friday that, “In the army, we predicted the outbreak of the disease on January 19, 2020. Monitoring the World Health Organization’s outlets, we recognized the outbreak of the disease in China, and we alerted our forces to be prepared.”

Earlier this month, Nahid Khodakarami, head of the health committee of the Tehran City Council, while referring to the unrealistic statistics announced by the regime and the accuracy of the statistics announced by the Iranian Resistance, in an interview with Shargh daily on Tuesday said: “According to my statistics, in best case scenario, 70 people die every day in Tehran and the worst-case scenario a little over 100 people die in Tehran due to COVID-19 disease, and since the Ministry of Health announces the total number of deaths, Tehran is included. But the reason for the difference between statistics announced by the Ministry of Health and what we have in hand should be searched in two issues. First, the results of the tests of so many deceased are found after their burial. Secondly, the cause of death for others is written as RDS or Respiratory Distress Symptoms or respiratory.”

Regime’s top officials, like its president Hassan Rouhani or the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, has tried to somehow, via blaming either United States for Sanctions or producing a “biological weapon”, or downplaying the crisis, avoid any possible social outrage and use the coronavirus as a tool to oppress people inside Iran and parallelly pursue their goal of lifting sanctions to further increase their warmongering activities.

In this regard, on April 9 Khamenei said: “As for the current issue of the country – the coronavirus outbreak – well, this is an epidemic and a test. There have been greater tests, we have witnessed some in our country. This is not something extraordinary. These incidents happen in countries, although I’m not trying to undermine this issue, but we shouldn’t enlarge it. This is something that has happened and will be gone. Yet the experiences we will gain from this test, people and organizations’ activities could turn into an opportunity. If we keep these opportunities this test will turn to blessing and this threat will turn into an opportunity.”

Khamenei’s remarks along with Rouhani’s decision to send people back to work elucidates the regime’s real intention of massacring people.

The truth is the regime tries to prolong its life day by day. If possible, via massacring people with the coronavirus, if not via deception and lying and framing one another for the ongoing crises in Iran. Rouhani and Khamenei have constantly called the coronavirus outbreak a rather “security threat.”

A report obtained by the MEK from Rasht Hospital states: “Office of Protection and Security calls the hospital’s administrative staff and warns them not to provide statistics on patients and deaths to anyone but the protection office because the statistics should only reach the IRGC. They have even been told to not give statistics to health centers that should officially track the statistics. “

The reason for the regime’s secrecy in covering the actual death toll of the coronavirus is the regime’s fear of rising social discontent resulting ultimately in a popular uprising.

In this regard, the state-run Iran-e Emrouz daily wrote on Tuesday: “We are going to have a major social upheaval after the Coronavirus is over. The situation is not going to be calm. It is going to be exactly like the period after the 2017 elections (uprisings), and we are going to see repeated and powerful incidents.”