On January 8, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei surprised everyone, announcing “the import of American and British Covid-19 vaccines is forbidden.” He attempted to justify this irrational decision with outrageous reasons. However, this only means more coronavirus deaths for the people of Iran who have already lost around 200,000 of their loved ones, according to the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei deprives the Iranian people of #CovidVaccine, posing more lives at risk.
"The import of U.S. or British vaccine into Iran is forbidden"—Khamenei
According to @Mojahedineng, #COVID19 has claimed nearly 200,000 citizens' lives, millions more are at risk. pic.twitter.com/hzI1PHNdxt— IranNewsUpdate (@IranNewsUpdate1) January 8, 2021
The regime’s Supreme Leader also mentioned that “I have said this [point] to officials and now, I am saying it publicly.” In fact, Khamenei had made his decision to put society in dire conditions since a while back.
Recently, Iranians launched a Twitter storm, calling on officials to purchase Covid-19 vaccines. Khamenei’s recent remarks are seemingly another objection to public demands. “If the Pfizer company can make the virus vaccine, why do they want to give it to us? They should use it themselves and not have such a high death rate… the same goes with the UK,” Khamenei claimed.
“Sometimes they want to check their vaccines on other nations to see if they work or not… I do not have a good feeling about France either… If [officials] want to procure the vaccine from other places and it is a reliable country, that is no problem,” Khamenei added.
This is while top U.S. officials, including Vice-President Mike Pence, President-Elect Joe Biden, and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris received Pfizer vaccines to show their credit. However, Iranian high-ranking officials like Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, and others refuse to receive Iran-made vaccine shots. Instead, they sacrificed the Head of the Executive Order of Imam Khomeini (EIKO) Mohammad Mokhber’s daughter to make an advertisement.
Earlier, on December 30, Hamdeli daily cited a letter written by 167 Iranian pharmacists, who had described the domestic Covid-19 vaccines as a ‘joke.’
“With what confidence do we claim to produce an indigenous vaccine,” the pharmacists wrote, criticizing “horrible planning” in providing vaccines in Iran. They also expressed utter shock at the slogan of “producing a national vaccine,” Hamdeli wrote.
“Why should we allow the production of such a sophisticated product to be described as so simple. When we can’t purchase a number of freezers to transfer and maintain the vaccine, we have the equipment needed to produce vaccines? And for 80 million people?” Hamdeli’s article reads.
On the other hand, health professionals sounded the alarm about the regime’s delay in procuring reliable vaccines. “Any delay in providing the vaccine and launching vaccination for a significant number of people will keep us back even further,” said an ICU expert at Tehran’s Masih Daneshvari hospital Mohammad Reza Hashemian on January 6.
On January 7, the head of Iran’s Health Apparatus Organization Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi admitted that the regime’s delay in procuring vaccines would lead to the loss of more lives.
“Any delay in procuring and distributing the vaccine will lead to significant issues for people’s health throughout our society. In Iran, the vaccination trend is not in line with the spread of Covid-19, and the prolonging period of this illness will deliver irrecoverable damages to the health system and people’s lives.” Mehr News Agency quoted Zafarghandi as saying.
However, it is thought that Khamenei did not suddenly make the decision to ban the people of reliable vaccines. From months ago, the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) revealed that the Iranian regime was attempting to deter further anti-establishment protests by exploiting the coronavirus outbreak.
The NCRI compared the regime’s tactic with the ear of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war when current officials as the war commanders were leading their soldiers to death. They were implementing the ‘human waves’ technique to open minefields, and the first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini was simultaneously insisting on the war’s continuation. “Peace is the burial of Islam,” and “War, war, to remove the sedition across the globe,” Khomeini frequently said.
In response to Khamenei’s criminal comment, the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi severely condemned the regime’s decision. “Vaccines are people’s right. The death toll is nearing 200,000, but Khamenei says no vaccines could be imported from the US, UK, and France. By huge human casualties, he seeks to fend off popular uprisings. The Coronavirus and Khamenei are the allies against the people of Iran,” Rajavi tweeted.
Vaccines are people’s right. The death toll is nearing 200,000, but Khamenei says no vaccines could be imported from the US, UK & France. By huge human casualties, he seeks to fend off popular uprisings. The #Coronavirus & Khamenei are allies against the people of #Iran.
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 8, 2021
“Khamenei’s ban on the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines is a crime against humanity. He is responsible for the deaths of thousands of our deprived compatriots due to the Coronavirus,” she wrote, adding, “The international community should strongly condemn this crime and compel the mullahs’ regime to lift the ban on import of vaccines. Khamenei’s Red Crescent announced a ban on the import of 150,000 Pfizer/BioNtech vaccines. This costs people’s lives and is tantamount to their deliberate massacre.”
Source » irannewsupdate