The Iranian mullahs are masters in the art of deception and seasoned liars. Since 2018 alone, they have lied about their attempts to bomb a Free Iran rally in Paris,
their bombings of tankers in the Gulf of Hormuz, their missile strikes on Saudi oil installations, and their shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet, which killed 176 people.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that when the coronavirus came to Iran, the regime’s initial response was to lie.
At first, their justification was that they wanted as many people out in the streets to mark their anniversary celebrations and to vote in the election; things people typically don’t do because when they could catch an infectious disease.
Struan Stevenson, the coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, wrote: “The mullahs knew that the virus was in Iran but covered it up and did not make any announcements to warn the people. Nor did they make any preparations for preventing the virus from spreading, unlike other countries, because the mullahs wanted to see large gatherings of people attending the anniversary of the 1979 revolution and voting in its recent sham election. Khamenei even ridiculed the disease and said the coronavirus was an excuse created by Iran’s enemies to discourage people from voting.”
Now, the regime is downplaying it to evade mass protests as people realize that the mullahs gambled with the people’s health and lost. (The regime claims that less than 50 have died and 500 are infected, but the opposition revealed that the number of deaths is around 1300.)
The mullahs also don’t want any more scrutiny over the fact that they are refusing to hand out preventative gear, like masks and hand sanitizer, even to hospital staff. (That stuff the mullahs are keeping for themselves and for the people who can afford their black market prices.)
The regime refused to halt flights from China until a few days ago.
Stevenson, a former member of the European Parliament, wrote: “The World Health Organization and the entire international community are worried about coronavirus spreading from Iran, as they feel certain the issue is being covered up by the Iranian authorities… Now they are putting their own 80 million citizens at risk and in so doing are endangering the international community with the spread of this disease. How can the world community ever trust such a regime? How can we be sure that it has any commitments to the conventions it has signed? This regime deserves to be held accountable for all its lies and crimes.”
Source » irannewsupdate