“Iran tells Doctors Without Borders to leave despite worsening epidemic,” Al-Monitor, March 24, 2020. Many decisions seem so out of joint in Iran, such as the calls for international aid (that means money, which can be confiscated by the Regime) as opposed to really accepting aid from good actors like Doctors Without Borders or the United States government. That this DWB staff (and hospital and supplies? we don’t know yet if Iran will confiscate them) would be kicked out is heartbreaking for those citizens who could have been saved. Iran does not mind asking for cash as it just did with the $5 billion request of the World Bank, or for medicine and supplies. See “Iran pleads for medicine as it fights epidemic under sanctions,” Al-Monitor, March 12, 2020.
A coronavirus patient in Iran given perfume around his mouth by an Islamic medicine cleric has died, state-run IRNA reports. The cleric, in videos circulated on social media, rubs the mouth of COVID-19 patients at a hospital in northern Iran, telling them to “smell it, it is from the prophet.” One patient in the videos, Mohsen Sharifi, died later on Monday. IRNA says the cleric has been identified, and an arrest warrant has been issued. See “Iranian patient visited by Islamic cleric dies of coronavirus,” Arab News, March 24, 2020.
“‘Virus at Iran’s gates’: How Tehran failed to halt the outbreak,” AP, Los Angeles Times, March 24, 2020.
“State designates Iran-backed League of the Righteous as Foreign Terrorist Organization,” Bill Roggio, FDD’s Long War Journal, March 24, 2020.
In the category of does the Regime really have that much money, Iran’s First Vice President Jahangiri says owners of small businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak should rest assured that their losses will be compensated. “Coronavirus in Iran: Small Businesses to Be Compensated for Losses,” Iran Front Page, March 24, 2020.
“The Untold Story of How Iran Botched the Coronavirus Pandemic,” Maysam Behravesh, FP, March 24, 2020.
122 died on Monday. “Iran death toll from coronavirus close to 2,000: Health Ministry,” Reuters, March 24, 2020.
“About half of Iran’s state workers stay at home as coronavirus death toll nears 2,000,” The Star, March 24, 2020.