{"id":254814,"date":"2022-01-26T04:28:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T09:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=254814"},"modified":"2023-02-03T14:53:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T13:53:15","slug":"irans-covid-19-death-toll-surpasses-500000-was-it-preventable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/irans-covid-19-death-toll-surpasses-500000-was-it-preventable\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s COVID-19 Death Toll Surpasses 500,000. Was It Preventable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran-covid19-mask\"<\/p>\n

On January 25, Iran\u2019s Covid-19 death toll surpassed half a million. This astounding mortality rate, coupled with heart-wrenching videos of people falling to their deaths on streets, sparks one question: Was this catastrophe avoidable?<\/p>\n

A glance at some of the facts and figures indicates that this humanitarian catastrophe could have indeed been prevented. Still, the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saw<\/a> the deadly pandemic, as he put it, as “an opportunity” and part of a broader strategy of producing mass human casualties to stem the rising tide of uprisings that threaten his fragile grip on power.<\/p>\n

Half a million is not just a number. The victims were mothers, daughters, sons, fathers, and friends who led personal lives and had dreams for the future. But the Iranian regime\u2019s inhumane and criminal negligence shattered those lives unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

Iran was rocked by two major uprisings in January 2018<\/a> and November 2019<\/a>. These protests laid bare the indisputable fact that after 43 years of nightmarish clerical rule, the Iranian people would not be content with anything less than a fundamental change resulting from the overthrow of the entire regime and all its factions.<\/p>\n

While Khamenei succeeded in stifling those uprisings temporarily, especially by murdering 1,500 people in cold blood in November 2019, the demonstrations, especially by university students in 22 cities following the regime’s shooting down of the Ukrainian flight PS752<\/a>, demonstrated the explosive state of the society, with the chants of \u201cdown with Khamenei\u201d echoing loudly and repeatedly all across the country.<\/p>\n

Recognizing this explosive potential, Khamenei took maximum advantage of the Coronavirus. The deadly virus became the ayatollahs\u2019 de facto ally. When Covid-19 first was detected in China, all countries halted their flights to and from China. Meanwhile, Mahan Air, an airline affiliated with Khamenei\u2019s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), did not stop the entry of many Chinese visitors to Iran.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
500,000 Iran\u2019s true Covid death count<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>