Iran COVID-19 Crisis: Death Toll Surges as Rouhani Lies
Written by
Mansoureh Galestan
Hassan Rouhani
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK) announced on Wednesday that COVID-19 has so far taken the lives of nearly 45,000 people in Iran. Instead of helping people, in line with the rising death toll, the regime’s president, Hassan Rouhani’s lies have increased.
While heads of hospitals, regime officials, and state-run media acknowledge there is a rising number of the coronavirus death and infection rate, even among health workers, and shortage of medication and hospital beds are staggering, Rouhani continues his lies, deception, downplaying and cover-up of the COVID-19 crisis.
Rouhani and the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, fearing an uprising due to the increasing economic pressure on society ordered people back to work. This decision along with reopening of religious sites has resulted in more death and infection.
Mohammad Shanbodi, the health director of Mahshahr port in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran, in an interview on Tuesday with the state-run ILNA news agency, said: “The Coronavirus outbreak in Khuzestan has taken an upward trend. In the last few days, Mahshahr hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients. Naft Hospital allocated another ward to Coronavirus patients. Hospital beds are not enough, and there is no room for more patients. Unfortunately, many of the medical staff have contracted the virus, which forced them to enter quarantine. I emphasize that we have no substitute for them.”
The state-run Iran daily reported on Tuesday: “In Lorestan province officials have announced a red state and banned travelers’ entry to the Province.”
The state-run Tasnim news agency on May 25 quoted a lawmaker from Izeh and Bagh-e Malek as saying: “People of Khuzestan and some other southern provinces are facing many problems caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus … If the situation continues like this, it will be difficult to control and deal with Coronavirus in these provinces.”
On May 24, state television reported: “The daily number of infections rose by 1.32 percent in the first ten days of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht, 1.4 percent during the second 10 days, and 1.48 percent in the third ten days, respectively.”
Meanwhile on May 23, Rouhani, despite the rising number of deaths and infections, blatantly said: “Some are trying to scare people in the country about the Coronavirus disease. We should not tolerate this.”
On Wednesday May 20, Rouhani while trying to downplay the extent of the crisis spoke of a “declining trend of the Coronavirus prevalence that is about to be contained.” He shamelessly blamed the outbreak in some provinces on people “not following the instructions completely.”
Earlier on May 20 Rouhani claimed: “We have been making progress step-by-step in these three months, having no relapses anywhere. Altogether, we have made good progress in the fight against this dangerous virus and have almost managed to contain the disease.”
On May 19, Rouhani bogusly claimed: “The government’s actions in the field of health and treatment and the implementation of the health development plan, in dealing with Coronavirus has placed us in a position that we don’t have any shortage of special hospital beds and medical facilities and equipment.”
Contrary to Rouhani’s claims, on May 18, Dr. Massoud Mardani, a member of the National Coronavirus Combat Taskforce (NCCT), told the state-run daily, Salamat News: “We still have difficulty in obtaining medicine, protective instruments and ICU beds. We should not move from bad to worse. It seems that we need to move towards more severe quarantine conditions. The current situation is by no means favorable.”
Fearing a possible social turmoil and another series of the nationwide Iran protests which shook the regime’s foundation in November 2019, the regime resorted to a cover-up and deception over the COVID-19 crisis. It intends to use it as a tool of oppression. Yet, the restive Iranian society, after 40 years of oppression and severe economic pressure due to the regime’s institutionalized corruption, is like a powder keg and needs any spark to explode. The regime currently fears the post coronavirus situation.
Mohammad-Reza Mortazavi, head of the Iranian Flour Makers Association and President of the Iranian Food Industry Associations, said on Tuesday: “This social hatred that has engulfed the middle class is one of the factors hindering prosperity in the country. This hatred will turn to resentment. I remember the first days of the revolution. Some people were running into houses, confiscating those houses… I envision that day, and it is crystal clear to me that those days are coming back. As someone who knows and looks at society, I see that this hatred is growing and [will turn into a revolution and] will explode.”
On April 7, Iran-Emrouz state-run daily wrote: “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.”
https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/iran-covid-19-crisis-death-toll-surges-as-rouhani-lies/