According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the Covid-19 death toll in Iran is continuing on its rapid rise, and even with the Iranian regime’s falsified numbers it still indicates the overwhelming depth of the coronavirus crisis in the country.
An announcement on Saturday, August 14 from the regime’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi stated that an import of 30 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine had been approved for use in Iran. He said that experts have suggested that in order to control the spread of the pandemic in Iran, they would need at least 60 million doses.
The NCRI said, “Khamenei banned the entry of credible Covid-19 vaccines in January 2021. In March 2020, he said, ‘We shouldn’t make this coronavirus such a big issue’. The regime authorities followed Khamenei’s lead in downplaying the crisis and speaking against vaccination.”
In a stark turn of events, the regime’s supreme leader, appeared on TV on August 11 referring to Covid-19 as a ‘savage virus’ and stating that it should be the regime’s priority to combat its spread. The question currently stands as to what has made the authorities in the regime change their mind 7 months later on the situation that Iran is facing.
The NCRI said, “Following the major Iran protests in November 2019, which rattled the regime’s foundation, Khamenei was desperately awaiting a savior to protect his regime from people’s uprisings. That savior was the coronavirus outbreak, which the regime turned into a major humanitarian crisis by deception and inaction.”
It seems that the situation is now out of Khamenei’s hands with the spread of the new Delta variant and the ever-increasing number of deaths. Raisi described the current situation as ‘undesirable’ in his recent statement. All the while, both of them are still using the pandemic as their ally and tool in their bid to continue with the repression of the citizens of Iran.
The NCRI said, “They are afraid of people’s backlash. Videos circulating on social media show a young woman grieving for her husband, saying: “Khamenei burn in hell. You took my dearest from me. I will take revenge.” The Iranian people’s hatred increases parallel with the death and infection rate.”
The protests that took place in Khuzestan in recent weeks, which then spread to many other cities across the country, called for the overthrow of the religious dictatorship, and saw people of all ages chanting ‘death to the dictator’. At this point, using the outbreak of coronavirus to quell the unrest was a pointless exercise for Khamenei and his regime officials. Raisi, first-hand, felt the wrath of the people during a visit to a pharmacy. He was confronted by one person who questioned why teenagers in the United States were being vaccinated, but no vaccine was available for Iranian citizens.
The NCRI said, “The Covid-19 outbreak is added to other economic and social crises and could spark protests and lead to the explosion of Iran’s restive society. This inevitable outcome has threatened the regime authorities.”
