The coronavirus crisis in Iran is accelerating and raging. The death toll is staggering, and the people are left defenseless. Every news about the situation is adding to the disastrous situation.
The oligarchy of the political and economic power of the regime was prioritized to the people’s health, and the regime benefiting from the coronavirus to ensure its existence after the two major protests in 2017 and 2019 has led to the uncontrollable spread of the coronavirus.
Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, the head of Iran’s medical system, announced on August 8: “Those who made a statement to restrict the import of the vaccine should be held accountable for the record of the coronavirus casualties.”
Note this statistic first:
Number of coronavirus deaths in several Asian countries on August 7, 2021 (Source: World Health Organization)
- Iran 588 people
- Saudi Arabia 12 people
- Kuwait 6 people
- Japan 4 people
- UAE 3 people
- South Korea 1 person
- Bahrain zero
- Qatar zero
- Afghanistan zero
Now pay attention to this inevitable confession. On August 11, 2021, Alireza Zali, chief of Iran’s coronavirus task force, stated: “The cost of coronavirus drugs has increased many times over the costs of vaccine import, but they did not allow the vaccine to be bought because they thought it was too expensive.
“When the experts of the World Health Organization came to Iran, instead of consulting with them, we constantly asked them to praise the Iranian health system in the media. We hid the death toll from the World Health Organization.
“We returned international aid and Médecins Sans Frontières from the airport without much knowledge about the virus and did not seek international advice.
“We have much more bitter news for the coming weeks and things will get much worse. Delta lasted three months in India, and they quickly vaccinated everyone. We should not grieve over the price of the vaccine; we should even buy them at twice the price and vaccinate people.
“We have no choice but to make a two-week lockdown, which should start today. We only have the vaccine reserve for five days and we cannot increase the speed. If we had enough vaccines, we would double the centers.”
Then about the regime’s other priorities, he confessed: “Our ambassadors in foreign countries did not seek vaccines, I talked to the Japanese ambassador, and he said that the Iranian ambassador did not seek vaccines at all, what kind of diplomacy is this?” (Iran’s State TV, August 11, 2021)
In such a situation described by this official, it is predictable that the death toll is even much more than the numbers of the WHO. The problem and bitter reality are that in this regime there is no reliable organization to have a firm foothold on it.
As Abas Abdi, one of the regime’s elements, on August 10 said: “The actual number of the daily coronavirus deaths should be close to 1,500 and possibly more.”
Moinuddin Saeedi MP about the dramatic situation on August 11 said: “The numbers we hear today about the victims of the deadly coronavirus disease, Delta, these are not numbers, these are mothers and father, sisters, spouse and a child. The increasing of this statistic is bothering any conscience. I wish instead of protecting cyberspace users (the regime’s new bill about the internet restrictions), we would prioritize protecting people against the coronavirus, protecting people against this unbridled increase in prices and water scarcity.”
Without any analysis, the final words belong to the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei who is the main culprit of this situation.
“The import of US and British coronavirus vaccines into the country is prohibited.” (February 7, 2021)
And now after this massacre which he was running in the country in an inconsistent and strange but not unexpected expression he said:
“Fortunately, the production of vaccines within the country paved the path for the import of foreign shots as well, whereas, before that, foreign suppliers would renege on their promises despite having received the payments.”
And suddenly the coronavirus has become a priority of the country!
“The outbreak of the coronavirus is the first and most urgent issue in the country.” (Khamenei, State-TV, August 11, 2021)
He before this situation on March 3, 2020, about the coronavirus outbreak has said: “In our opinion, this calamity is not such a great calamity, there have been bigger calamities than these calamities, and we have seen cases in the country. It is a temporary issue; It is not an extraordinary thing. These incidents occur in the country, of course, I do not want to minimize this issue, but we should not make it too big. There is something that is happened, a time that God willing, will not be too long, it will exist in the country, then it will leave.”
