Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 21, 2020—Over 106,800 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 440 cities checkered across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to reports tallied by the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as of Monday afternoon local time, September 21. The official death count declared by the regime stands at 24,478, around a fifth of the actual figure.
The coronavirus death toll in various provinces include: 25,655 in Tehran, 7793 in Razavi Khorasan, 6901 in Khuzestan, 5182 in Mazandaran, 5029 in Isfahan, 4371 in Gilan, 3253 in Sistan & Baluchistan, 3208 in East Azerbaijan, 3001 in Alborz, 2951 in Fars, 2737 in Hamedna, 2452 in Kermanshah, 1690 in Kerman, 1465 in Hormozagan, 1398 in Markazi (Central), 1379 in Yazd, 1325 in in Bushehr, 1290 in Ardabil, 966 in Qazvin, 811 in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari, 732 in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed, and 682 in South Khorasan. This is in addition to reports obtained from other provinces.
Infographic-Over 106,800 dead of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran
Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, being the highest official responsible for the horrific Covid-19 crisis in Iran, broke his weeks of silence on this issue and once again placed the blame on the people. “Don’t underestimate Covid-19. Is it a simple issue to have around 150 deaths each day?! The cure is in our own hands. The officials are truly sacrificing themselves. From physicians, nurses and various directors, they’re constantly placing in their efforts. We, the people should take measures based on our responsibilities. This social distancing, masks and instructions, washing our hands, these are necessary measures,” he said.
While the Iraqi government had on September 12 issued a ban on Iranian travelers into Iraq for religious ceremonies, Khamenei attempted to portray a responsible image for himself. “Participating in these religious ceremonies should be first approved by the country’s health officials. If they say no, then it should be no. For now, they have said no,” he said.
During Sunday’s meeting of the Coronavirus Task Force, health minister Saied Namaki told regime president Hassan Rouhani, “Our forecasts indicate the death rates in Isfahan will increase at a terrifying rate in the coming weeks.”
During the same session, Alireza Raisi, the deputy health minister, said that in Qom coronavirus is on a steep slope. “Since last week, the number of hospitalized patients has increased from 271 to 531. The deaths will increase too,” he said. “All discussions of herd and crowd immunity are baseless. Reports by some people that in Qom, 70 percent of the people will no longer contract the virus are not true.”
The situation in prisons is so bad that Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the interior minister, told Rouhani that in prisons, both the number of deaths and cases are high, and the prisons are too jampacked, the state-run television. Rahmani Fazli requested the attorney general to make a decision in this regard due to the “sensitivity of the issue.”
A few weeks after the Muharram mourning ceremonies and two weeks after the reopening of schools, the spokesperson of the health ministry declared for the first time that 24 provinces are in red conditions. “Last week, we saw a 20-percent increase in the number of hospitalized patients in Tehran. Tehran is the crossroads of all exchanges and given its territory, can also affect norther provinces,” the spokesperson added, according to the official IRNA news agency.
During the Sunday session of the Majlis (Parliament), Abolfalz Abutorabi, MP from Najaf Abad, Isfahan province, acknowledged that all hospitals, treatment centers, and medical staff are faced with many problems, according to ICANA, the official news agency of the Majlis. “It is forecasted that in the fall, the situation will grow worse,” Abutorabi said, adding, “Out of a huge sum that was withdrawn from the national development fund, the government has only allocated 30 percent to our health. The Supreme Audit Court must intervene and declare why the money that was taken from the development fund was not allocated to the coronavirus response and given to the health ministry.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said that the expansion of the coronavirus disaster is the result of the criminal policies of Khamenei and Rouhani, including the decision to return workers to work and reopening schools without adopting the necessary health precautions, and their decision to proceed with the crowded mourning ceremonies during the month of Muharram. And all of this is happening while Khamenei has not allocated the smallest amount of his tens of billions of dollars of wealth to the coronavirus response. Under such circumstances, by stating that the people must do their duty to counter Covid-19, Khamenei is only adding salt to the people’s wounds, Madam Rajavi added.
Madam Rajavi also stressed that the interior ministry’s confession to the spread of Covid-19 in prisons is in fact a confession to crime against humanity, whose culprits are Khamenei, Rouhani, judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, and other regime officials, especially judiciary authorities.
Mrs. Rajavi once again called on the international community to force the regime to free prisoners at least while the pandemic lasts, and to send a delegation to visit prisons and meet with prisoners, especially political prisoners.
Iran coronavirus outbreak death toll interactive map
