Iranian cleric blames Trump for coronavirus outbreak in Qom

Saeedi claimed that the outbreak was Trump's way of fulfilling his promise to hit Iranian cultural sites if the Islamic Republic took revenge for the killing of Soleimani.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An Iranian cleric walks in front of the Shrine of Fatima Masumeh in Qom (photo credit: WANA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS)
An Iranian cleric walks in front of the Shrine of Fatima Masumeh in Qom
(photo credit: WANA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS)
The Friday Prayer Imam of the religious city of Qom, which has been struck with a coronavirus outbreak that has left 29 infected and six dead, blamed US President Donald Trump on Saturday for targeting the city with the virus in order to "make Qom look like an unsafe city and to take revenge," reported Radio Farda.
"The enemy wants to instill fear in people's hearts, make Qom look like an unsafe city and to take revenge for all its defeats," said Hojjat ol-Eslam Seyyed Mohammad Saeedi, the Friday Prayer Imam and Custodian of the Shrine of Masoumeh. "Trump will die frustrated in his wish to see Qom defeated."
The cleric added that Trump targeted the city because it is a "shelter for the Shi'ites of the world, the center of religious seminaries and the city where Shi'ite sources of emulation live."
Saeedi claimed that the coronavirus outbreak was Trump's way of fulfilling his promise to hit Iranian cultural sites if the Islamic Republic took revenge for the killing of former IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, according to Radio Farda.
In January, Trump warned in a tweet that if Iran strikes any Americans or American assets, the US had targeted "52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture."