Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, April 9, 2020—At the government cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani discussed his plan to cancel nationwide quarantines and to reopen the country’s economy. In his remarks, he continued his despicable lies and contradictions to justify his government’s criminal secrecy and negligence on the coronavirus outbreak.
Contrary to the views of medical experts, Rouhani claimed the situation is getting normal and there is no need for quarantine. But on the other hand, he admitted that he has no other option and it is too early for quarantines.
Rouhani said he had contacted many running factories, and they had said no one has contracted coronavirus, from which he concluded that everybody can get back to work.
Rouhani also claimed: “We have put behind the coronavirus wave, and we try to resume work and production.” Ironically, his Health Minister Saeed Namaki had said the previous day in a parliament session, “We are still in the disease management stage and we have not controlled it.”
“Regarding coronavirus, we haven’t hidden anything. As a government since February 19, we have noticed coronavirus outbreak,” Rouhani said in a futile effort to dismiss his government’s coverup of the coronavirus outbreak.
But aren’t the Health Ministry and the country's medical scientists part of the government? They have repeatedly announced they knew about the virus in the country from early January. Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Rouhani’s former health minister, acknowledged: “In December I raised my concerns to senior officials including the president.”
Weren’t Rouhani and regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei aware of these reports?
And even if they learned about coronavirus cases on February 19, why didn’t they postpone the legislative elections on February 21, which threatened to infect many people with coronavirus? The more Rouhani tries to bring up excuses for his regime’s failures, the more he becomes stuck in his own web of lies.
And Rouhani’s lies have become so preposterous that even the state-run media ridicule his remarks.
“If Rouhani can’t get out of his thoughtlessness and inversion mood, he will still be accused of secrecy”, wrote the daily Jahan-e Sanat on April 8.
“Rest assured that we will definitely defeat the coronavirus with this method,” daily Arman wrote sarcastically on April 8.
In his remarks, Rouhani emphasized the use of IRGC Basij paramilitary forces for the regime’s plan to cancel the quarantine.
“To fight the coronavirus, we need the Basij forces. The Health Ministry must cooperate with Basij. Sometimes you can’t talk to people by giving advice. We have no other choice than to combine the Basij with the Health Ministry,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani remarks mean that the regime is determined to send people to their deaths, and it needs the Health Ministry to cooperate under the command of Basij, a body that has gained notoriety for its brutal massacre of dissidents and protesters.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Rouhani fully followed Khamenei’s commands and didn’t blame Khamenei or the IRGC for the spread of the virus. Instead, he thanked them. Rouhani understands very well that at this time the regime in its entirety is at serious risk and he is very cautious of playing on the differences between regime factions. In fact, even the media outlets that are associated with the pricipalist faction that is close to Khamenei don’t criticize Rouhani as they used to. Instead, he is mostly being attacked by the so-called reformist newspapers.
The main fear of the regime is a new round of nationwide uprising, and this fear is obvious in the regime’s media and officials' remarks.
“Giving up against coronavirus is at the cost of tens of thousands of lives and the country’s economic, social, cultural and political collapse,” wrote the state-run daily Setareh Sobh on April 8. The daily Ebtekar also wrote on April 8, “It is naïve optimism to think that this broad disaster will be over soon. This will have inevitable consequences in the nature and structure of our political and economical system.”
The destiny of the Iranian regime is in the hands of coronavirus. The Iranian Resistance and the people of Iran are determined to turn the coronavirus crisis to a struggle against the regime and restore democracy, freedom, peace, and prosperity to Iran.
