jpost | Iran’s Press TV, which represents the regime’s English-language
propaganda, has been pushing antisemitic conspiracies about the
coronavirus to distract from the mullah regime’s mishandling of the
pandemic.
On Sunday, Iran’s Health Ministry reported 49 new coronavirus deaths, the highest single-day toll of those killed by COVID-19
in the country since mid-February. As of press time, Tehran has
acknowledged 194 Iranians have died from the fast-spreading disease. But
observers believe the true number may be far higher.
Over
the last several days, Iran has pushed several reports claiming that
“Zionists” were behind the coronavirus. Press TV also quoted the same
website that was at the center of an antisemitic article from 2017 that
claimed “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.”
On March 5, Press TV
claimed that “Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of
coronavirus against Iran.” Although the report claimed to reference a
foreign “academic,” it fits the pattern of Iran using foreign experts to
give the regime’s own views a patina of authority. The agenda of Tehran
has been three-fold since the coronavirus outbreak began to affect Iran
in mid-February. Iran initially denied that there was a virus outbreak
so that it could increase voter turnout for the February 21 election.
In
late February, it turned out that some of Iran’s leading politicians
and key insiders were infected because the virus had spread from the
holy city of Qom to Tehran. To make up for the initial cover-up, the
regime shifted its narrative to blaming US sanctions for its inability
to control the virus. Already regime leaders were beginning to compare
the virus to sanctions.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
had first downplayed the virus, claiming that like sanctions, it looked
worse than it was. Then on March 7, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif argued
that the sanctions had “drained Iran’s resources needed in the fight
against” the virus. He called it “medical terrorism.”
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