The Iranian regime’ cover-up and deceit since the coronavirus entered Iran were the reasons for the spread of the virus across Iran and turning Iran into an epicenter of the disease.
The Iranian regime refused to quarantine the city of Qom, the first city where the virus was transferred from China to it; and continued Mahan Air flights to China. These actions turned Iran into an epicenter of this disease. In addition, instead of controlling the virus and helping people to stay at home, it chose the policy of forcing people, particularly the poor, back to work. A policy that according to the regime’s own officials, will result in infection and the death of hundreds of thousands of people. This criminal action has created a new series of infighting which is covered by the regime’s media. The following text is parts of an article published this week by the state-run Jahan-e Sanat. The article is a clear acknowledgment of the regime’s deceit and cover-up as well as the critical situation in Iran:
The government should stop its demagoguery
Since the coronavirus emergence in Iran, we have been witnessing how the differences between the Ministry of Health with the government have been increasing. The Ministry of Health has insisted on quarantining the country, on the other hand, the government, due to its economic problems, did not have the capability of managing this crisis. The people are paying the price in between.
According to all the crisis management experts, to manage this situation, there should be only one decision-maker, not two different organizations with different interests. The Ministry of Health is knowingly worrying about people’s lives while the National Coronavirus Combat Taskforce (NCCT) has abandoned people in a whirlpool and looks forward to the economic cycle.
However, it should not be forgotten that during our county’s history, at the end of their presidency of every president the country was left like an orphan. Now as we reach the end of the current parliamentary and presidency terms, there are two problems. In a nutshell, the authorities have completely abandoned the country, let alone systematic crisis management.
In these hard days, it should have been better that the Ministry of Health alone managed the crisis. At the beginning of this crisis, the government created a committee, where the president [Hassan Rouhani] had the full authority and the Ministry of Health was charged to implement his orders, which was unlike other countries where the Ministry of Health takes the final decision based on its statistics and information. In this case, people would have not been sacrificed for the economy. If we learn to hand over any problem to its experts, there will be no confusion.
Now, when every official has a tribune and speaks differently about the coronavirus, the people would not value the Ministry of Health’s sayings.
According to our recent research, 70% of people do not trust the authorities’ words or the news published by [the state-run] media. Not having a capable official has turned this crisis into a pandemic and no one is paying attention to the Ministry of Health’s orders.
If they had not considered the political reasons from the very first day and quarantined Qom, then all these innocent people would not have lost their lives. The government did not dare to quarantine a city, and this had consequences for all people. However, it is said that in some cities, the situation is reportedly white. This is very unwise, as the coronavirus will rise again with the reopening of offices, commercial, pilgrimage, and tourism sites. Authorities did nothing to contain the coronavirus during this time.
In the beginning, the southern cities were not affected by this virus, but today, with the opening of provincial routes, Khuzestan is exposed to the explosion of the disease despite the hot weather. The government only brags about having solutions.
The official statistics are so unrealistic that the world is amazed at the secrecy of the authorities. The United States recently announced that, with all its resources, it has only been able to perform the coronavirus test on five million people, so we will only test people who go to hospitals or are in critical condition.
Those who had mild symptoms did not get the test at all and are not included in the statistics. These people make up 60% of the population of carriers, and now they are moving in society for any reason. The number of deaths is declining day by day to make this a normal situation for the people. In the cities, people with COVID-19 are no longer taken to the hospital but are not cared for so they end up being buried at the cemetery.
At present, our government has adopted a procedure to ensure that all people are infected with the virus so that strong people can return to normal life, but the weaker ones fall victim to this policy. All these decisions are only in the interest of the country [regime]’s economic cycle. The Iranian people do not have high expectations of the president. They only want the truth, because it is the duty of the NCCT and all the relevant authorities, to tell the truth.
If the authorities stop using demagoguery, the people will more consciously take care of themselves; not after such a long time and when Qom, Tehran, and Khuzestan are about to be exploded. According to the Supreme Leader, honesty should be one of the hallmarks of a worthy official, which unfortunately we are deprived of today.
The people currently do not trust the authorities. For years, there has been a filthy rift between the government and the people and God knows when it will open. People are clearly afraid of getting sick, but they must commute from morning to night in busy centers to win their daily bread. They have no other choices. Recently, it was announced that the poverty line is below 9 million tomans. So, 70% of Iranians live in absolute poverty.
