Iran: Coronavirus death toll exceeds 28,200 in 273 cities
Maryam Rajavi: People’s wealth, stolen by the IRGC, foundations controlled by Khamenei and the Astan-e Quds Razavi endowment must be put in the service of the people of Iran.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) announced today that the Coronavirus death toll had exceeded 28,200 in 273 cities across the country. The number of victims in Tehran Province is 4,550, Qom 2700, Khorasan Razavi 2,400, Gilan 2,310, Isfahan 2,030, Alborz 1060, Golestan 970, Kermanshah 770, Fars 690, Semnan 460, Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari 260, Ilam 230, Bushehr 150, and Hormozgan 65.
While the regime tries to understate the figures of the dead and infected by providing false statistics, even below what it had announced in previous days and forcing the people back to work to pretend as though it is controlling the spread of the Coronavirus, its Health Minister said today, “The future comportment of the virus is not predictable, and it is possible to face heavy waves of the pandemic in fall or winter… Hospital beds ratio to the population is 1.6 beds for every 1,000 persons, less than any European country, of which for example, France has a ratio of 6.6 beds for every 1,000 persons… Coronavirus is new, and we still do not know whether warmer weather would contribute to its containment. We are hoping to contain the first wave around the end of May or the beginning of June, but we should not think that by so doing, the untamable virus would leave us alone… we should prepare for much harder days.”
Alireza Zali, head of Tehran’s Coronavirus Combat Taskforce, was quoted by the state-run TV 5 network as saying: “We have witnessed a three percent rise in the occupancy of ICU units of hospitals covered by Tehran’s universities… The overall number of people using public transport in Tehran has multiplied by at least three to four-fold. This is worrisome..”
According to the Setareh Sobh website on April 14, the High Council of Medical Organization and Board of Directors of its General Assembly announced, “The multiplicity of decision-making centers in dealing with the Coronavirus crisis has harmed the effectiveness of the measures. The Ministry of Health’s statistical method also has a significant gap with the reality on the ground and has undermined public confidence on the figures.”
On the other hand, under increasing pressure to compel economic cartels controlled by Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards to pay for the living expenses of workers, toilers and the deprived for several months so that they would not have to go to work, the clerical regime has engaged in a series of public relations stunts. For instance, Rouhani announced today that the 60-dollar loan with 12 percent interest, offered to those who receive subsidies, will be turned into “an interest-free loan and the government will pay the interest.”
The weight of the Iranian people and Resistance pressure and its impact within the regime regarding foundations controlled by Khamenei have reached a point where today, in a coordinated tailor-made chorus, the Health Ministry Spokesman joined the Judiciary, the IRGC, and the media in saying, “The Mostazafan Foundation, Astan-e Quds Razavi, and especially The Headquarter for Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) have provided extensive support to the Coronavirus Combat Taskforce. Actions taken by EIKO were remarkable in terms of speed, quality, and quantity.”
IRGC’s Commander-in-Chief also announced the formation of the so-called Imam Hassan Mojtaba Garrison, comprised of the Mostazafan Foundation, EIKO, Khomeini’s Assistance Committee, Organization of the Bassij of the Mostazafin and Astan-e Qods Razavi, which provide aid packages to about 3.5 million families. But members of the Bassij are responsible for identifying the needy. In other words, the IRGC is transferring money from one pocket to the other and is trying to portray it as helping the people.
At the same time, state-run media outlets continue to voice alarm over the prospects of popular uprisings. Jahan San’at daily wrote on April 13, “The Government has turned Coronavirus into a security problem. With such a security view toward society and Coronavirus, the lack of a production system, the existence of a multitude of petty and service jobs, and the concentration of the poor, migrants and slum dwellers across the country are all like a social bomb that might explode at any moment and lead to social unrest.”
Etemad daily wrote the same day, “Delay in finding a solution may lead to rebellion among the destitute and cause other forms of insecurity or aggravate social problems.” Another state-run daily, Mostaghel, wrote today, “Foreign sanctions also pressure the people… We can see the result of this pressure in unequal distribution, and in the unsettling cite of skyscrapers in city centers, especially in provincial capitals and the capital itself. The gap between the rich and the poor is shockingly wide. Most certainly, this gap will cause a crisis that will destroy us all..”
Reacting to Khamenei’s and Rouhani’s reluctant decision on not charging interest on a one-million-toman loan to people out of their fear of an uprising, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: the people of Iran are not begging the mullahs for charity. The Iranian people’s wealth, which is stolen by the IRGC, foundations controlled by Khamenei and the Astan-e Quds Razavi endowment, must be wrested out of the mullahs’ control and put in the service of health, treatment, and needs of the people of Iran, especially the deprived and the hungry.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
April 14, 2020
