Maryam Rajavi: under the mullahs’ rule, the people are extremely vulnerable in the face of earthquakes and the virus, especially in Tehran, with a population of 14 million
Valiant youth and vanguard women in popular councils must take the initiative.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) announced on Friday, May 8, 2020, that the Coronavirus death toll in 314 cities in Iran had exceeded 40,000. The number of victims in Tehran is 6,690, Khorasan Razavi 2,935, Mazandaran 2,480, Isfahan 2,470, Khuzestan 2,055, Alborz 1,599, Lorestan 1,030, Central Province 535, and North Khorasan 442.
Fearing the internal and international repercussions of the scope of the disaster in Iran, however, the clerical regime continues to cover up the death toll. Today, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the regime’s Interior Minister, said, “At least seven official agencies provide different statistics on the number of hospitalized patients and deaths… It was decided that no other agency publish the figures. Anyone who wants to report the statistics must do so based on the Health Ministry’s statistics. The current reporting causes a lot of misuses impacting both the public and the foreign media.”
Last night, Iraj Harirchi, the regime’s Deputy Health Minister was quoted by the state-control news network, saying, “We expected to see a declining trend in some provinces of the country, such as Khuzestan but that has not happened.”
The head of Razi Hospital in Ahvaz told the state-TV in Khuzestan, “As I speak to you, 50 patients are being hospitalized. The situation is becoming critical.” The regime’s television added in its report, “Razi Hospital capacity is already full, and today the number of deaths in the province has increased significantly.”
Today, the Quds Force affiliated news agency, Fars, reported, “Reza Nejati, the spokesman for the National Coronavirus Combat Task Force in Khuzestan warned we might go back to فاث quarantine condition of last month. It is believed that the authorities in the Province hurried the reopening of some of the businesses, and this… was the green light for an increase in the number of infected people in Khuzestan”.
In Borujerd, Mohammad Kakavand, head of the health and medical treatment network, told the state official news agency, ISNA, “The number of referrals to the hospitals has increased. Unfortunately, this upward trend has reached the villages in Borujerd, some of which must be quarantined. Jafarabad village has a large number of infected people.”
In Hormozgan, Hamid Jahangiri, Hajiabad’s Governor told ISNA, “The virus is increasingly spreading in the city, and there are new places where previously no infections had been reported; also the number of patients is increasing.”
Central Province Governor, Seyed Ali Aghazadeh tweeted, “In the past 24 hours, 21 more were infected in the Province, with 15 in Khondab, where the Health Ministry had declared virus-free. The Health Ministry has been acting on its own in declaring cities virus free and has not sought the opinion of provincial officials. If the trends of infections continue to rise in Khondab, we will take harsher measures.”
Qazvin Province Governor Jamalipour told Shabakeh Khabar (News Network) on May 7, “We were facing a series of challenges in Qazvin and Takestan due to population density. Both cities are still red.” Qom’s Governor Sarmast told the same news outlet, “Our situation continues to be red based on the number of hospitalized patients, Health Ministry Officials, and National Coronavirus Task Force.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said the astounding rise in the coronavirus death toll and the upward trend of the crisis in many provinces, like Khuzestan, Lorestan, Central, and Hormozgan, are entirely due to the clerical regime’s inhuman policies. She added the only thing the mullahs are concerned about is to preserve their disgraceful rule. The Iranian people’s wealth has been squandered in the unpatriotic nuclear and missile projects, as well as in the export of terrorism and warmongering. In the first few months of the crisis, no serious assistance was provided to those infected, the deprived, and the destitute out of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of public wealth under the control of Khamenei and the IRGC.
Mrs. Rajavi referred to the earthquake and successive aftershocks in Tehran today, adding that under the mullahs’ rule, the people are extremely vulnerable in the face of earthquakes and the virus, especially in Tehran with a population of 14 million. The mullahs have destroyed and looted all the infrastructure. Expressing sympathy and helping in this emergency is a nationalistic duty. Valiant youth and vanguard women in popular councils must take the initiative.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
May 8, 2020
