Iran’s virus deaths soar over 10,000 as regime deceives public - report

The mass deception involved directives to issue fake death certificates. “The cover up by the mullahs is not only a health risk for the Iranians, but also for other countries."

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
People wear a protective face masks, amid fear of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as they walk at the Grand bazar, ahead of the Iranian New Year Nowruz, March 20, in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2020 (photo credit: WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/ALI KHARA VIA REUTERS)
People wear a protective face masks, amid fear of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as they walk at the Grand bazar, ahead of the Iranian New Year Nowruz, March 20, in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2020
(photo credit: WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/ALI KHARA VIA REUTERS)
BERLIN – The rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran have fabricated the number of Iranian coronavirus deaths in the Middle East’s epicenter of the deadly disease, with the real count of victims exceeding 10,000 people, according to Western security sources.
“The number of corona deaths in Iran is many times higher than the authorities there have previously admitted... the death toll passed the 10,000 mark about 10 days ago when Iran officially reported slightly more than 2,000 deaths,” German paper Die Welt reported Sunday.
The death rate in Iran is “four to five times higher than the regime admitted then,” the report said. “The current figures are currently officially 55,743 sufferers and 3,452 dead. The current death toll is apparently much higher. On Sunday, it was 12,380, according to Western security sources.”
Ebrahim Raisi, the Islamic Republic’s chief judge and a possible successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, ordered that thousands of coronavirus deaths be attributed to diseases such as heart failure or pneumonia, Die Welt reported.
The mass deception by Raisi involved directives to issue fake death certificates.
“The cover-up by the mullahs is not only a health risk for the Iranians, but also for other countries,” the report said. “Around 50,000 Iranians traveled to Southeast Asia, Europe or Canada in the last two weeks of March.”
Some 1,000 Iranians traveled to Germany and 900 traveled to the United Kingdom during the second half of March. Other Iranians went to Spain and France.
Iran’s regime on Monday announced the country has had 3,739 deaths from the disease and 60,500 people infected with the virus. Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday said his country would not accept humanitarian aid from the US.
Reports about the leaders of the Islamic Republic seeking to dupe the Iranian population and the international community about the spread of the coronavirus are not new.
In late March, Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said 4,298 people have died due to the virus. Tehran said 2,500 people have died.
“The data collected by Radio Farda is also a very conservative estimate, and the real number of the victims could be much higher,” it said. “The data shows that most of the novel coronavirus victims belong to the provinces of Isfahan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Golestan, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran and Qom.”
Iran refuses to release the number of coronavirus victims for each of the country’s 31 provinces.