{"id":501,"date":"2020-03-17T15:59:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T20:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=501"},"modified":"2020-03-19T12:38:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T17:38:19","slug":"501","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2020\/03\/17\/501\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Pres. Rouhani is incorrect about the curve reaching its zenith, as he said yesterday Monday and reported on this blog.\u00a0 Instead, the Health Ministry reports today Tuesday that just yesterday in Iran that 135 died, and now the total (reported by the Health Ministry) died of COVID-19 is 988 country-wide.\u00a0 On Saturday, 113 had died, also reported on this blog on Mar. 15.\u00a0 Rouhani\u2019s assertions are false hope for the Iranian people, if they are listening.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIran sees 135 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours,\u201d<\/a> KGET, NBC, March 17, 2020.\u00a0\u00a0See also \u201cIn new spike, Iran says 135 more people died of coronavirus,\u201d<\/a> Jon Gambrell AP, Boston Globe, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

There is a real power struggle going on inside Iran right now.\u00a0 The government response to Coronavirus is the most recent manifestation of the Leader\/IRGC military\/hardliners against the President, an attempt by the Supreme Leader to keep control of the country and the Revolution.\u00a0 As this plays out, the President will not be able to stand against this.\u00a0 Last night in Mashhad (Imam Reza shrine) and Qom (Fatima Masumeh shrine)(usually open 24 hours per day; Shiites often kiss or touch holy symbols, and believe they can be cured of illness) scores of protesters stormed and entered, backed by some Shia clerics.\u00a0 They said things like, \u201cWe are here to say that Tehran is damn wrong to do that!\u201d and \u201cThe health minister is damn wrong to do that, the president is damn wrong to do that!\u201d\u00a0 See \u201cFaithful in Iran storm closed shrines,\u201d<\/a> John Bowden, The Hill, March 17, 2020, and\u00a0\u201cPower Struggle Hampers Iran\u2019s Coronavirus Response,\u201d<\/a> Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

Iran is not taking care of coronavirus, but continues to fester attacks against the U.S.\u00a0 \u201cIraqi officials say rockets strike Baghdad\u2019s Green Zone,”<\/a> AP, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere Is Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader?,\u201d<\/a> Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Good Side Of The Coronavirus? IDF Says Iran\u2019s \u201cHostile Enemy Activity\u201d Toward Israel Has Waned,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0The Yeshiva World, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201c’Virus at Iran’s gates’: How Tehran failed to stop outbreak,\u201d<\/a> AP, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran State TV Ejects Actor For Criticizing Coronavirus Control Policy,\u201d<\/a> Radio Farda, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran forces recruit 9,000 Shia fighters in Syria,\u201d<\/a> Middle East Monitor, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

Days of denials, a national independence\/Revolution celebration, and an election (in which they needed everyone to come out and cast \u201csupport\u201d ballots for the Regime) helped the coronavirus spread quickly in Iran.\u00a0 And the lifeline of airline flights to China.\u00a0 See \u201cExplained Coronavirus in Iran: Why Did the Islamic Republic Get Hit So Hard, So Fast,<\/a>\u201d AP, Haaertz, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoronavirus pandemic ‘could kill millions’ in Iran,\u201d<\/a> Al Jazeera, March 17, 2020.\u00a0\u00a0A state television journalist, who is also a medical doctor, gave the warning on Tuesday citing a study by Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology, which offered three scenarios regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.\u00a0 Dr Afruz Eslami said if people begin to cooperate now, Iran will see 120,000 infections and 12,000 deaths before the outbreak is over. If they offer medium cooperation, there will be 300,000 cases and 110,000 deaths, she added.\u00a0 But if people fail to follow any guidance, it could collapse Iran’s already-strained medical system, Eslami said. If the “medical facilities are not sufficient, there will be four million cases, and 3.5 million people will die,” she said. Eslami did not elaborate what metrics the study used, but reporting it on Iran’s tightly controlled state TV represented a major change for a country whose officials had for days denied the severity of the crisis.\u00a0\u00a0At least 12 Iranian politicians and officials, both sitting and former, have now died of the illness, and 13 more have been infected and are either in quarantine or being treated.<\/p>\n

\u201cNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed temporarily from Iranian prison,\u201d<\/a> Patrick Wintour and Kate Proctor, Guardian, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

This is one of the illicit dual-use channels Iran uses, and this one has at least been partially shut down.\u00a0 \u201cIranian national extradited to Texas after allegedly exporting ‘military sensitive items’ to Iran,\u201d<\/a> Justine Coleman, The Hill, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

A funny video about eggplants falling from the sky in Tehran got five multi-media students arrested.\u00a0 \u201cIran students sorry for \u2018raining aubergines\u2019 videos,\u201d<\/a> BBC, March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pres. Rouhani is incorrect about the curve reaching its zenith, as he said yesterday Monday and reported on this blog.\u00a0 Instead, the Health Ministry reports today Tuesday that just yesterday in Iran that 135 died, and now the total (reported by the Health Ministry) died of COVID-19 is 988 country-wide.\u00a0 On Saturday, 113 had died, … <\/p>\n

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