Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, March 12, 2020—After failing miserably to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across Iran, regime officials are once again taking a page from their old playbook: Blame everything on foreign enemies. To justify its crimes against the Iranian people the regime is now ridiculously claiming that the coronavirus outbreak is the result of a biochemical and bioterrorist attack by the United States.
This is a claim that has been repeated by various regime officials and state-run media against the backdrop of a worsening situation, which has so far claimed more than 3,300 lives across Iran.
Bioterrorism until 2030
“Coronavirus is not a normal disease but a bioterrorism that is spread in China and Iran and this should not be ignored. Anti-bioterrorism needs to go beyond passive defense and be separate. From now on until the 2030 the world will face bioterrorism attacks,” said Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of the Majlis (Parliament).
“Mr. Jalali, Head of Defense must answer us if we are under a biological attack or not? What are you doing? If not, what are all these narratives about biological attacks?” asked a TV anchor from Gholamreza Jalali, the head of the regime’s Civil Defense.
On March 9, Gholamreza Jalali acknowledged, “Because of the dimension of the issue we had to keep silent for some reason,” the state-run daily Tabnak reported.
In a letter to the U.N. Secretary General, former Iranian regime president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad previously called the coronavirus a “new weapon” and a “Biological Instrument” used by the dominating powers to cause concern for nations and disruption to world security”, Didar news website, March 2, 2020.
But clearly, the people of Iran will not buy in to these arguments, and as far as they’re concerned, biological attacks are a ridiculous pretext by the regime to run away and cover up its crimes regarding the coronavirus crisis.
White House’s biologic warfare
The Iranian regime’s state-run TV said in a report attributed to the Russian Defense Ministry on March 7 that the Pentagon constructed “Biological Weapons Laboratories in Georgia and on Russian Borders.” But it is clear that the aim of this state-run media is to prepare the ground to attribute the virus to a biological attack and in this way blame foreign enemies and cover up the regime’s deliberate secrecy and disregard.
IRGC commander Hossein Salami mentioned that “the country is struggling with a biological attack” and said, “The virus, which may be the product of the American biological invasion, first spread to China and then to Iran and other parts of the world,” Eghtesad news reported on March 5.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the supreme leader’s representative on international affairs, tweeted “Maybe years later, it will be revealed that the coronavirus was White House’s biological warfare against America’s great global rivals (China and Russia) that spread to parts of the world and in to the American people as well.”
Other counties don’t report their statistics
To further downplay its own disastrous handling of the situation, the Iranian regime claimed that the other countries also remain tight-lipped about coronavirus death tolls.
“Not all countries declare their statistics or some of the statistics are not true”, the IRGC-owned FARS news agency quoted Tehran’s mayor Pirouz Hanachi.
Previously deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi had said, “Other countries are now fully secretive about the death of coronavirus or the number of around the world,” a state-run news network reported on February 24, a few days after coronavirus cases in Iran were officially declared. Interestingly, Harirchi was reported to have contracted COVID-19 shortly after.
These remarks only betray the regime officials’ fear of public anger, especially after the November uprisings and an intensification of the public resent and outrage toward the regime’s lies.
Illusive theories
“Seeking refuge through illusional theories and walking behind a correct analysis of events, creates horrible disasters and it drives us away from the real causes of events,” Jahan-e San’at wrote on March 9.
“The main reason for such arguments seems to be the inability and lack of a capable program to counter the coronavirus nightmare and put an end to its deadly functions. These arguments are being made while other countries come up with targeted and effective programs.”
November and January protests, an unforgettable experience
The Iranian people rejected the regime’s deception on the issues like gasoline price hike, the crash of Ukrainian plane by Revolutionary Guards and the officially declared death toll of the November 2019 protests. Naturally, they will also not accept regime’s tricks about the coronavirus either. The Iranian people recognize regime change as the only way to get rid of these national disasters. This is the reason why the regime is afraid to be transparent about the scale of the coronavirus outbreak. It has the experience of the November 2019 and January 2020 protests.
