The theocracy that rules Iran is blatantly lying about just how many of its citizens are dying from the coronavirus and understating what precautions need to be taken to fight the pandemic, a prominent leader of the Iranian opposition told Newsmax.
These charges against the Tehran regime were leveled in a teleconference Thursday morning by Muhammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) — by far the largest of groups opposed to Islamic government that has ruled Iran since 1979.
Mohaddessin’s charges come at a time when, in his words, “all across the country, in all age groups, people are perishing.” In contrast to official government claims that there are only 2,077 coronavirus-related deaths as of March 25, Mohaddessin declared that “more than 11,500 people in 222 cities across Iran have died as of March 25.”
This pattern of official lying, he insisted, has been going on since figures related to coronavirus death cases were first collected and released on March 1.
“At that time, the government claimed only 54 had died from the virus when the actual figure was 650 deaths,” said Mohaddessin, the son of a Grand Ayatollah of Iran and himself a onetime prisoner of the late Shah of Iran.
Pressed by Newsmax as to how he obtained the higher death count that he insisted was accurate, Mohaddessin replied: “Sources within the regime — among them doctors and nurses — and some of our activists died [getting the accurate information].”
He added that the figures were obtained by reviewing records at hospitals, cemetaries, and health centers and contrasting their figures with the official figures put out by Tehran.
In terms of precautions against coronavirus, Mohaddesin insisted “there are no plans to quarantine, and the government maintains ‘[i]t’s against the country’s revolution to shut down businesses [due to the virus]….we must not let this happen.’”
“All health care assistance that is not handled directly by international agencies is stolen by the regime,” said Mohaddesin, “And all health care assistance in Iran is controlled directly by the Supreme Leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khameni. ”
“This is the only country where the people and the government are on opposite sides dealing with the virus,” he emphasized.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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