Iran’s military on alert as virus kills 77, sickens leaders

Tehran, March 3

Iran put its armed forces on alert on Tuesday to assist health officials in battling the new coronavirus outbreak that has killed at least 77 people, sickened top officials and pushed the country’s supreme leader into wearing disposable gloves while trying to reassure the nation.

Even as government officials sit metres (feet) away from each other at meetings now in an effort to stop its spread, the virus is ravaging both its civilian leadership and its Shiite theocracy.

A top emergency official and at least 23 members of parliament reportedly contracted the virus and now suffer from the COVID-19 illness it causes.

There are now over 2,540 cases of the new virus across the Mideast, with 2,336 in Iran alone. Of those outside Iran in the region, most link back to the Islamic Republic.

Experts worry that Iran’s percentage of deaths to infections, now around 3.3 per cent, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be far greater than current figures show.

Meanwhile, a gloved Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sought to minimise the virus while praising the doctors and nurses combating the outbreak. He urged the nation to pray.

“This disaster, in our opinion, is not such a big disaster, there have been and there are bigger disasters than this. Of course I don’t want to downplay the issue, but let’s not exaggerate it much either. Something has happened, it will exist in the country for a time, which hopefully will be short, and then it will go away,” Khamenei said.

Worldwide, the virus has infected 90,000 people and caused 3,100 deaths.

The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi on Monday makes him the highest-ranking official within Iran’s leadership to be killed by the virus. State media referred to him as a confidant of Khamenei.

The virus earlier killed Hadi Khosroshahi, Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican, as well as a recently elected member of parliament.

Ahmad Tuyserkani, an adviser to Iran’s judiciary chief, died Monday night from the virus, semi official media reported.

Those sick include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, better known as “Sister Mary”, the English-speaking spokeswoman for the students who seized the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and sparked the 444-day hostage crisis.

Also sick is Iraj Harirchi, the head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who tried to downplay the virus before falling ill.

On Tuesday, lawmaker Abdolreza Mesri told Iranian state television’s Young Journalists Club program that 23 members of parliament had the coronavirus. He urged all lawmakers to avoid the public.

“These people have a close relationship with the people and they carry different viruses from different parts of the country, which may create a new virus, so we recommend the lawmakers to cut off their relationship with the public for now,” Mesri said.

Members of Iran’s Supreme Council of Economic Coordination, including President Hassan Rouhani, met on Tuesday and sat metres (feet) apart from each other.

State media did not comment on the move, nor the fact the meeting appeared attended by fewer officials than normal.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency also reported that Pirhossein Koulivand, head of the country’s emergency services, had come down with the new virus. It said he was undergoing treatment.

Khamenei ordered Iran’s armed forces to be ready to help health workers, but it wasn’t immediately clear what the order entailed. — AP