In recent days it has turned out that not only is Iran spreading terrorism and instability across the Middle East, it has now become the major propagator of a global disease epidemic – with cases beginning to appear in Lebanon, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Afghanistan and elsewhere due to people returning from Iran.
Nobody is suggesting that Iran is spreading this deliberately. However, the excessive secrecy and deliberate hiding of data from international health officials has allowed rates of infection to spiral out of control.
Iran’s Health Ministry on 24 February claimed that the total number of infections was 61, with 12 deaths. However, a Qom deputy asserted that the death toll was at least 50. Experts point out that such a death toll in reality probably means that thousands of people are already affected; hence the numbers of foreign pilgrims returning from Qom to their home countries and spreading the disease further afield. There are reportedly also growing numbers of cases in other cities across Iran, suggesting that the disease is already way out of control.
One of the early reasons for the regime’s cover up was its unsuccessful desire to avoid a terrible turnout in the Majlis elections. In the event, most voters didn’t bother to vote in a historically low turnout. However, this was less to do with Coronavirus and more because the Guardian Council had struck down thousands of non-extremist candidates, meaning that the reformist wing of the regime was annihilated in the vote. Ayatollah Khamenei appears to be preparing the ground for selecting a hardliner president next year and rebuilding his regime in readiness to take a more aggressive posture on the global stage.
This is also a regime which on 8 January managed to shoot down a Ukrainian plane full of Iranian citizens, killing 176 on board. Despite the Revolutionary Guard within seconds realizing that it was to blame for this atrocity; for several days Iran’s leaders actively denied all involvement, until the regime’s guilt become too obvious to deny. Instead of apologizing, the regime reacted violently when citizens once again took to the streets to express their anger at these killings.
It is very strange that a regime which claims to base itself on Islamic principals instinctively relies on lies and misinformation every time it finds itself under pressure. Such behaviour speaks volumes about the real corrupt and self-serving objectives of the regime’s leadership.
At various times over recent years, Bahrain and other GCC states have halted flights to Iran because of the regime’s active efforts to export campaigns of insurgency, terrorism and paramilitancy throughout the region. With greatest respect for the long-suffering Iranian people; an out-of-control pandemic is just one of the threats resulting from contacts with the “Islamic Republic.”
Regional states would be far better off closing their borders altogether on this terrorist regime until Iranian citizens have had the opportunity to eradicate this theocratic cancer for themselves.