Iran spreads COVID-19 across Arab countries

Eslam Mohamed

It was not suffice for the Mullahs’ regime to spread war, sectarian strife and terrorism over the course of 40 years, as it started deliberately spreading COVID-19 across Arab countries.

Iraq banned Iranian nationals from entering the country and its own nationals from traveling to Iran on Thursday following an outbreak of the coronavirus in the Islamic Republic.

The decision came a day after Iran announced two deaths in the town of Qoms, an important religious center some 140 kilometers south of Tehran, and amid unconfirmed reports that several other people had died from the respiratory illness.

“Iranians are prohibited from entering,” a senior official told AFP, adding that border crossings with Iran are now closed, allowing only Iraqis returning to the country to pass.

Iraq had recorded only 93 cases by Friday and is desperately trying to insulate itself from Iran’s fate. On Sunday, Iraq announced it will temporarily shut all land border crossings outside of Iraqi Kurdistan for two weeks, according to the New York Times.

Most Iranians have been banned from entering Iraq for the last three weeks. Diplomats, however, had been excepted and some have been trying to bend the rules to bring in their families.

The Ministry of Health in the Kurdistan Regional Government announced the recovery of nine cases of corona virus infection and the continued isolation of citizens suspected of being infected with the virus.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement that it had isolated 277 two hundred citizens of them in Erbil and 44 in Sulaimaniyah, 13 in Dohuk, and 20 in Halabja.

The statement added that the number of citizens who entered health isolation centers has reached 4 thousand and 265 people, of whom 2,481 citizens left health isolation centers after the termination of the isolation period while 1784 citizens are still inside health isolation centers.

Iran also caused a coronavirus outbreak in Lebanon, mainly by Hezbollah, as Lebanon has announced that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 93, according to the ministry of public health, the biggest jump since Friday when the confirmed cases were at 77.

The lab tests included patients diagnosed at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital and a number of other university hospitals, read a ministry’s statement carried by the National News Agency (NNA).

The Health Ministry also reminded citizens to remain at home and not to go out “unless absolutely necessary.”

Tehran is deliberately not stamping the passports of visitors from Arab countries in an effort to spread the virus with it, and an official condemnation has been issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Tehran because of this abnormal behavior.

“As the COVID-19 ravages Iran, we should recognize that viruses don’t discriminate,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted. “To fight them, neither should humans.”

Criticisms have escalated in Iran due to poor health facilities and weak capabilities to deal with serious diseases in light of the deteriorating economic conditions due to spending money to support Shiite militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other countries that suffer from Iranian influence.