• Home
  • As Iran Coronavirus Deaths Rise, Rouhani Hits Back at Criticism
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a meeting with a group of Iranian athletes, in Tehran, Iran, June 1, 2019. Official President website/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES - RC1922713680

As Iran Coronavirus Deaths Rise, Rouhani Hits Back at Criticism

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has hit back at criticism over the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying he had to weigh protecting the country’s sanctions-hit economy while tackling the worst outbreak in the region.

Iran, one of the world’s hardest-hit countries from the virus, reported 123 more deaths on Sunday in the past 24 hours, pushing its overall toll to 2,640 amid 38,309 confirmed cases.

The president reacted on Sunday at criticism of its lagging response to the worst coronavirus outbreak in the region, which has so far infected 38,309 people in the Islamic Republic, and killed more than 2,600 others – according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

Rouhani described international outcry at the government’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran as a “political war”, saying he had to weigh protecting the economy while tackling the virus, labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Leaders around the world are struggling to strike a balance between containing the pandemic and preventing their economies from crashing.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Rouhani said the government had to consider the effect of mass quarantine efforts on Iran’s beleaguered economy, which is under heavy US sanctions.

“Health is a principle for us, but the production and security of society is also a principle for us,” Rouhani said. “We must put these principles together to reach a final decision.”

“This is not the time to gather followers,” he added. “This is not a time for political war.”

In May 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a landmark nuclear deal signed three years earlier between Iran and world powers. Washington has since imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran that prevent it from selling oil on international markets.

Iran has urged the international community to lift sanctions and is seeking a $5bn loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Last week, United Nations rights chief called for any sanctions imposed on countries like Iran facing the new coronavirus pandemic to be “urgently re-evaluated” to avoid pushing strained medical systems into collapse.

“At this crucial time, both for global public health reasons, and to support the rights and lives of millions of people in these countries, sectoral sanctions should be eased or suspended,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said.

In recent days, Iran has ordered the closure of nonessential businesses and banned travel between cities. But those measures came long after other countries in the region imposed more sweeping lockdowns.

Just over a week after saying he expected the measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus to be eased by early April, Rouhani warned on Sunday that “the new way of life” in Iran was likely to be prolonged.

 

Read the full article on Aljazeera, March 29, 2020

Issue: Politics & Governance
Country: Iran

Iran’s Eastern Pivot: National Interests Versus Ideological Expansionism

November 24, 2023

Throughout the 45 years it has existed, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made the struggle against the United States and the West central to…

Iran’s ‘Super-Revolutionaries’ Eye Power

October 26, 2023

As Iran prepares to hold its next legislative elections in March 2024, the future has never looked dimmer for the remaining moderates and reformists within…

Fly Emirates: How the UAE Used the Airline Industry to Build Soft Power

October 15, 2023

Since the Ruler of Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, helped launch the United Arab Emirates’ “Vision 2021,” a blueprint for the country’s…

Subscribe to Receive Latest Updates from GIF.