Social and Political

Radiofarda – Videos showing Iranian health workers in their coronavirus protective suits dancing in hospitals flooded social media timelines recently and now taking their cue from Italians in quarantine, people in a Tehran neighborhood have begun playing music at night and singing to it from their windows. The singing and dancing at the time of coronavirus epidemic in Iran is …

RFL/RE – As Iranians isolate themselves to keep the coronavirus epidemic from spreading further, residents of one Tehran apartment complex found a way to unite: singing along with patriotic songs and pop hits blaring from their windows.

VOA – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Abdul Mahdi Monday that those responsible for a deadly attack on a military base last week must be held accountable.  “Discussed the deadly attacks on #Iraq’s Camp Taji military base with Prime Minister @AdilAbdAlMahdi. These actions will not be tolerated and the groups responsible must be held accountable by the Government of …

Al-Monitor – Iranian officials have so far resisted calls for mandatory quarantine of areas with high infections of COVID-19. Instead, authorities have shut down schools and mosques and have asked residents to stay home. With the Nowruz (New Year) holiday approaching March 21 and most offices closed for two weeks, officials have asked Iranians to not travel during this time as they normally do. …

aljazeera.com – Ayatollah Hashem Bathayi Golpayegani dies two days after testing positive, while number of deaths tops 850.16 hours ago Iranian sanitary workers disinfect Qom”s Masumeh shrine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus [Mehdi Marizad/Fars News/AFP] COVID-19 has killed a member of the clerical body that appoints the supreme leader, according to Iranian state media, the latest official in …

Radiofarda – By gathering data from dispersed official comments by provincial authorities and local news agencies Radio Farda has been able to confirm that at least 1,300 have so far died of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran and at least 32,000 have been admitted to hospitals in 30 provinces out of the 31 provinces of the country. The data these officials …

Radiofarda – A Shi’a university-seminary in Iran has lambasted the most senior Sunni cleric in the country for protesting novel coronavirus outbreak in Iran through Chinese Shi’ite religious students based in the city of Qom. Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, known as the spiritual leader for Iran’s Sunni minority, recently circulated a short video on social media charging that Chinese Shi’ite scholars …

Radiofarda – Amid intensified U.S.-Iran tensions following the latest rocket attack on March 14 against a military base housing coalition forces, Iraqis are braced for an imminent announcement of a state of emergency for thirty days to confront coronavirus which spread in the country from neighboring Iran. Meanwhile, local authorities in several provinces have already imposed curfews to contain the …

AL-Arabia – Iran’s coronavirus outbreak is at a critical point and the government should respond by implementing a lockdown and banning all flights, according to Yale University epidemiologist Dr. Kaveh Khoshnood. Iran’s coronavirus death toll reached 724 on Sunday, according to an Iranian health ministry official, with over 13,938 cases in the country. However, the number of infected is likely much higher, …

Iran-HRM – Despite official cover-ups on the death toll of the Coronavirus outbreak, the state-run ILNA news agency reported on March 12, 2020 that on the orders of the governor of Khaf, in Razavi Khorassan Province, a large number of graves have been dug on the foothills of Khajeyar Mountains to bury the victims of Coronavirus. Preparing numerous graves in different …