I was horrified to read about the pandemic in Iran.
The virus is once again spiralling out of control. On 13 October, 272 Iranians died, the most in a
single day since the pandemic spread there at the beginning of the year. But the Government acknowledged
the real figure could be double that. Nearly 30,000 Iranians out of a population of 84 million have died in
the pandemic, the worst toll in the Middle East. The official death toll doesn't include potential false negatives
or the many patients who had coronavirus symptoms but were not tested.
"The actual COVID-related death figures can be calculated 1.5 or 1.7 times,
even 2 or 2.2 times higher than the announced figures, depending on the
specific conditions in each province," Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said.
Government epidemiologist Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar claimed that "engineered statistics" were masking an
infection rate that could be "20 times higher" than the official figures, before the regime shut down a business
newspaper after it published his claim.
Iran's dire economic situation, under ever-harsher US sanctions, means that the regime's options to control the
outbreak are limited.
In 2015, Iran signed an international nuclear control deal with the Obama administration in exchange for sanctions
relief, but when the Trump Administration unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, Iran
went into recession and relied even more heavily on trade with China, and which made it slow to react to the Wuhan
outbreak.
Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran initiative at the Atlantic Council, said "I call the US sanctions
policy cruel and counterproductive because the victims are ordinary people", while Mike Pompeo claims the sanctions
"are directed at the regime and its corrupt officials" rather than the Iranian people. What an arsewipe.
The virus is once again spiralling out of control. On 13 October, 272 Iranians died, the most in a
single day since the pandemic spread there at the beginning of the year. But the Government acknowledged
the real figure could be double that. Nearly 30,000 Iranians out of a population of 84 million have died in
the pandemic, the worst toll in the Middle East. The official death toll doesn't include potential false negatives
or the many patients who had coronavirus symptoms but were not tested.
"The actual COVID-related death figures can be calculated 1.5 or 1.7 times,
even 2 or 2.2 times higher than the announced figures, depending on the
specific conditions in each province," Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said.
Government epidemiologist Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar claimed that "engineered statistics" were masking an
infection rate that could be "20 times higher" than the official figures, before the regime shut down a business
newspaper after it published his claim.
Iran's dire economic situation, under ever-harsher US sanctions, means that the regime's options to control the
outbreak are limited.
In 2015, Iran signed an international nuclear control deal with the Obama administration in exchange for sanctions
relief, but when the Trump Administration unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, Iran
went into recession and relied even more heavily on trade with China, and which made it slow to react to the Wuhan
outbreak.
Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran initiative at the Atlantic Council, said "I call the US sanctions
policy cruel and counterproductive because the victims are ordinary people", while Mike Pompeo claims the sanctions
"are directed at the regime and its corrupt officials" rather than the Iranian people. What an arsewipe.
I'm a creationist; I believe that man created God.
