Dozens of Iranian Officials Test Positive for Coronavirus

In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports that several Iranian political and military officials have been infected with coronavirus. 

Some of these reports proved to be either unfounded or were contradicted by subsequent tests for the virus. However, the prolonged absence of these officials from the public stage has raised suspicion, with many of them having been quarantined and ordered to undergo treatment. The self-isolation has not always been successful and sometimes it has concluded with the death of the official in question.

Who are these officials who have been infected with coronavirus and how has the government of the Islamic Republic responded to the news about the spread of the virus within the administration?

“A high-ranking judiciary official has also been infected by coronavirus but his name is not on any list,” a government official tells IranWire, “These lists mostly name officials of the executive branch. As is always the case in our country, there is a political fight going on that is costing people their lives. Both sides are trying to portray each other as less capable and efficient. In the coming days, more names will be published.”

This official, who is associated with the National Headquarters to Contain and Fight Coronavirus (NHCFC), confirms that the inability of Rouhani's government to deal adequately with the COVID-19 pandemic is the result of Iran’s political structure. “It is not a manifestation of a government as it is commonly defined in political science," the official said, "but rather a witness to the mafia nature of the ruling establishment.” 

 

An Old War, A Bloody New Round

Although the current political war between Rouhani’s government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a continuation of the long-standing conflict between the two components of the Islamic Republic, according to the government official, this time around hostilities have intensified. 

This time around, two big differences have arisen: “First, too many people are falling victim to this bloody fight. Earlier, I had told you that, according to a pessimistic evaluation of the NHCFC committee, the number of coronavirus fatalities could reach beyond six figures. The second important difference is that, on previous occasions, the internal conflict led to the imprisonment or temporary unemployment of individuals who belonged to one side or the other, but this time death is knocking on the doors of the officials themselves.”

In one aspect, however, both building blocks of the regime — the half-elected, half-appointed executive branch and the appointed section, mostly the IRGC — were happy to cooperate in this crisis. 

For at least 16 days, both sides denied the coronavirus outbreak in Iran and did not disclose the news about the individuals who had been infected.

The coronavirus then spread in Qom, and a majority of the government wanted to put the city into lockdown but the other part, i.e., the IRGC and their allied religious institutions, wanted to prevent the quarantine.

 

The War of the Lists

Subsequently, the fight to maintain the upper hand between the two wings of the regime intensified and this confrontation has both paralyzed the NHCFC and has prevented the government from taking effective measures to prevent further deaths around the country. 

This confrontation is evident in the way that the names of infected officials have been announced. According to reports confirmed by government sources, so far at least 12 political figures, ambassadors and former members of the parliament have died from COVID-19 and close to 43 have either recovered or been quarantined and are undergoing treatment.

On the list of high-level officials who have been infected, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, do not mention names of any IRGC officials who have COVID-19. On the other hand, media associated with Rouhani’s government struggle to contain the news of their offcials who become infected with COVID-19, most notably the First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri.

In an exclusive report on Wednesday, March 4, IranWire reported that Jahangiri had been infected with coronavirus and had been in quarantine at home since February 28. In another report, on March 11, we reported that Jahangiri’s condition had improved, although he was still in quarantine and undergoing treatment. However, he has not been seen in public or attended any cabinet meetings since February 28. 14 days on and government sources continue to deny that he has been infected.

Among the officials infected with the virus on Fars News Agency's list are are number of high-ranking cabinet ministers: Reza Rahmani, Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, Ali Asghar Mounesan, head of Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization, Masoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President for Women’s and Family Affairs, and Iraj Harirchi, Deputy Health Minister. Rahmani and Mounesan are recovering while Ebtekar and Harirchi are still undergoing treatment. 

From among those on Fars News Agency’s list, Reza Salehi Amiri, head of the National Olympic Committee, personally responded and said that he goes to work, has not been infected with coronavirus and is not quarantined. Pictures of him that have been published confirm his denial [Persian link].

Besides Hasan Sheikholeslam, a vice president of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, and Mohammad Mir Mohammadi, a member of the Expediency Council, both of whom have died from coronavirus, other names of figures close to Ayatollah Khamenei on this list include Mohammad Javad Iravani, a member of the Expediency Council and the deputy for auditing at Supreme Leader’s office whose condition was described as “recovering.” 

But the list does not mention Hossein Mohammadi, another high-level member of Khamenei’s staff and another member of the Expediency Council who, according to at least one report, has been infected and is suffering from severe lung complications.

The list also includes the names of five current members of the parliament who are either undergoing treatment or are recovering from the virus, including Mojtaba Zolnoori, chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. 

But other reports put the number of infected MPs much higher. On March 3, Abdolreza Mesri, parliament’s Deputy Speaker, confirmed that 23 members of the parliament had tested positive for coronavirus whereas earlier, Rouhani’s Vice President Mohammad Bagher Nobakht denied the allegations.

Three names of the members of the new parliament elected this February appear on Fars News Agency’s list, two of whom have died and the third is in recovery. 

 

Hiding the Names of Sick Allies

Fars News Agency’s list fails to mention members of the IRGC who have been infected with coronavirus but, as far as we know, a number of them have been and some have died. Ali Aghazadeh, former commander of Basij Organization and the Quds Force in the province of Gilan who recently been elected to parliament and Haj Saeed Khorshidi, a commander in Qazvin. Both are undergoing treatment for COVID-19.

IRGC officials who have died from the deadly virus include Farzad Tazari, former vice president of the Guard’s Political Bureau, and Colonel Abdollah Jafarzadeh, an IRGC commander in Fereydoon-Kenar in the province of Gilan.

It was also reported that Ramezan Pour-Ghasem, former commander of the Guards’ Ground Forces Counter-Intelligence, has died from coronavirus. Officials of the Guards and his family denied this and claimed that he had died from an old war wound but, considering the record of dishonesty among officials, it is not possible to verify this claim.

Mohammad Haj Abolghasemi was another IRGC commander in Tehran who recently died from the virus but the cause of death was announced to be his injuries due to chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. 

Among other current or former officials who have been infected we see the names of Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a deputy Intelligence Minister during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, Mohammad Jahangiri, Eshagh Jahangiri’s bother and vice president of Medical Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Esmail Najjar, former Minister of Interior and current president of the National Crisis Management Organization. 

Pourmohammadi has been released from hospital after receiving treatment but Mohammad Jahangiri and Esmail Najjar are still in quarantine.

According to the parliament’s board of directors, out of 100 members of the parliament who have been tested for coronavirus so far, five have been positive. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran, Mojtaba Zolnoori, a representative from Qom and chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Masoumeh Aghapour Amirshahi, member of the parliament from East Azerbaijan in the previous parliament, Sakineh Almasi, a representative from Mahshahr in Khuzestan, and Mohammad Reza Mansouri, an MP from Saveh in Markazi province, have announced that they have been infected with coronavirus.

 

The one thing that can be said with certainty is that, concerning coronavirus, the Islamic Republic of Iran has broken two world records. The first is the high rate of infections and deaths among medical personnel who are engaged in treating coronavirus patients and, second, is the rate of high-level officials who have now been infected with the deadly virus.

 

Related Coverage:

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"If We Don't Act Quickly Up to 700,000 Iranians will Contract Coronavirus", 7 March 2020

Iran’s War Veterans are Most Vulnerable to Coronavirus, 5 March 2020

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