By Jubin Katiraie
Viral epidemiologist Mohammad Reza Mahboub-Far, a member of the Iranian regime’s Coronavirus Taskforce, has spoken out about the mullahs’ concerns over a new social uprising that could spread across the country and see the government overthrown. As the possibility of an uprising emerges, the officials from different factions try to frame one another.
In an interview with state-run paper Setareyeh Sobh on Tuesday, he acknowledged that this fear was the reason that the government sent people back to work during the coronavirus pandemic. This decision to relax quarantine measures, as the experts had predicted, led to a globally unprecedented second coronavirus wave. And all because the mullahs were more concerned about social unrest from economic despair than the safety of their citizens.
Mahboub-Far said: “It was crystal clear that economic and day-to-day concerns are more important than the people’s lives. What we are witnessing today is the result and consequences of announcing various parts of the country as “white zones” (virus-free areas) while the truth was far different. Regarding infectious illnesses, and especially the novel coronavirus which is a respiratory illness, there is no such thing as a white area.”
He said that if these actions continue, with officials not understanding how to tackle the virus and putting economic issues above protecting people’s lives, then Iran will likely see “civil disobedience in regards to personal and public hygiene regulations” with the virus continuing throughout the summer and fall with far more deadly third and fourth waves.
He further criticized the government for hiding the true statistics on coronavirus, saying that this will cause the death toll to rise.
Mahboub-Far said: “Refusing to present the true statistics of coronavirus cases and deaths will not resolve anything. Failing to provide true numbers will result in the general public not taking this illness seriously and we will even witness civil disobedience in large portions of our society.”
The regime claims that 7,119 people have died from the coronavirus in Iran, but they are also threatening medical staff and families against revealing the truth in order to make the regime look like it has handled the situation better.
The Iranian opposition group, Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI), has been collecting data on the ground from trusted sources and reported a death toll of 43,100 in 319 cities across Iran on Wednesday evening.
The most recently updated death tolls for the provinces are as follows:
- 7,025 in Tehran
- 3,055 in Khuzestan
- 3,045 in Razavi Khorasan
- 1,315 in Sistan & Baluchistan
- 1,245 in Hamedan
- 1,235 in Lorestan
- 805 in Kurdistan
Read More:
Iran’s Jahan-e Sanat Daily: The Government Has Chosen the Economic Cycle Over People’s Health
