Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 8, 2020—In the last seven months, the novel coronavirus has claimed more than 100,000 lives in Iran, according to information obtained by the internal network of the Iranian opposition the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). This horrific statistic is obtained based on the most cautious estimates while some Iranian regime’s insiders have estimated the actual numbers being as much as four times higher.
This horrific tragedy was completely avoidable. However, the regime not only refused to take any serious action, but as its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei specifically said, they sought to use Covid-19 as a tool and an opportunity to preserve their rule. With a high number of casualties the regime sought to spread a sense of utter despair, sorrow, and passivity throughout the society after a major uprising that shook the foundations of the mullahs’ four-decade rule.
The catastrophe was preventable
The regime’s policies in the last seven months vividly indicate how the mullahs intentionally refused to provide any aid and forced the people into dangerous situations despite the pandemic. The regime kept a lid on the virus outbreak for two months and sought to portray a very normal situation.
The mullahs’ regime knew about the coronavirus epidemic at least two weeks before officially acknowledging it on February 19, 2020 following two Covid-19 deaths in Qom. The regime decided to cover up coronavirus cases in a bid to guarantee crowds for the pro-regime rallies marking the 1979 revolution anniversary on February 11, and the sham parliamentary elections on February 21.
“This is not such a major catastrophe and we have had more significant ones,” Khamenei said On March 3. Coronavirus is a “passing issue” and it is nothing “exceptional,” he added.
Regime President Hassan Rouhani repeated many times that “80 to 85 percent of those who contract the virus do not realize it at all and will get well.” In the meantime various officials announced testing positive on Covid-19 to show that it is not an important issue, and thus claim the regime does not have to allocate a significant budget to quarantine the people.
Rouhani also downplayed the situation and insisted on not imposing quarantine measures on cities, calling it a conspiracy of the anti-revolutionists to shut down the economy.
Khamenei and Rouhani prioritized the security of their regime over public health by sending people back to work before the outbreak was contained. Khamenei very clearly said that production must resume at “whatever the price.”
Rouhani also said that if 2-3 million people die from coronavirus, it would be better than 30 million hungry people taking to the streets. This clearly indicates the regime’s main concern of the potential of future nationwide protests re-emerging.
At the time, the Iranian Resistance repeatedly revealed that Khamenei’s massive financial institutions, such as the Astan-e Quds Razavi, and the so-called Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO), have billions of dollars in assets and financial resources to support the Iranian people during the lockdown. However, Khamenei refused to use those funds and abandoned the people in a state of complete vulnerability against the virus.
Moreover, the regime not only refused to allocate special wages for Iran’s medical professionals, but it also delayed the salaries of nurses for months and answered their protests with suppression.
These measures and methods are systematic and not only due to incompetent officials. One MP said, “they seem to have sworn to kill all the people,” according July 22 report wired by ICANA, the regime’s Majlis (parliament) news agency.
Three decisions and a criminal goal
In recent weeks, three decisions and policies made by the regime followed the same objective.
- Organizing college entrance exams with one million volunteers participating without regime officials properly imposing social distancing and health protocols.
- Organizing annual crowded Muharram mourning gatherings with the blessings and insistence of Rouhani and other clerics, all despite many doctors and medical experts warning about the catastrophic consequences of a new wave of the coronavirus outbreak in the coming four to six weeks.
- Premature reopening of schools despite many protests. Even many regime insiders were opposed to it. Minoo Mohraz, a member of the Coronavirus Task Force Committee, warned that “schools are the most suitable places for spread of coronavirus.” Another expert also warned that students are the most active virus hosts to transfer their illness to their parents and other family members.
“If we do not act on time and people’s children contract coronavirus, I will not call this recklessness but a deliberate act of murder,” said Majlis member Abdolreza Mesri to the state-run Etemad website on August 29.
The state-run Resalat daily wrote on August 6, “Maybe this does not have to be mentioned but reopening schools and students physically taking part in their classrooms is a genocide.”
A failed strategy based on high casualties
What the MEK has emphasized from day one is that the regime’s Covid-19 strategy is based on high human casualties. This is now being heard from many regime insiders.
This strategy, has failed due to the daily information published by the MEK obtained from its vast network across Iran.
“So far, the pervasive coronavirus crisis has been a cover for the society’s demands… This situation is like fire under the ashes that requires more attention from the officials to prevent high-risk events in the future,” said Mostafa Moein, former Health Minister and head of the regime’s Medical Council.
Regarding the tragic coronavirus crisis in Iran and the more than 100,000 fatalities, Madam Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said: “This scale of the death toll is the immediate result of the criminal and inhuman policies pursued by Khamenei and Rouhani. This was entirely preventable. They are now producing a more massive catastrophe by sending children to school. Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards do not spend even a fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars they have plundered from the Iranian people to combat the Coronavirus. Nor do they even pay the salaries of nurses and doctors and medical staff who work around the clock and risk their lives and those of their families to save the lives of patients. Even though the regime’s experts and mid-level officials unanimously describe the opening of schools to be dangerous, by causing mass casualties, the regime seeks to create a barrier against the crisis of being overthrown and overshadow popular uprisings.”
