(PMOI / MEK Iran): The situation for nurses in Iran is worrying, with many living with constant job insecurity and poor working conditions.

Actions speak louder than words. Perhaps Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, should reflect on this truism when he next opens his mouth to shed crocodile tears about some segment of Iran’s hard-pressed medical staff.

Khamenei addressed the nation in a televised speech last Sunday, praising the sacrifices of the country’s nurses, especially those who have been involved in attempting to stem the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed tens of thousands of Iranians since March this year. The  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), reported that some 189,300 people have now died from coronavirus in Iran.

Khamenei is right to praise these nurses, but the question is what has he done to help them and the sad answer is nothing.

More than 60,000 nurses in Iran have already been infected by the disease and over 100 of them have died, according to the state-run Hamdeli daily. The secretary of Home of Nurses, Mohammad Sharifi Moghadam, said, according to Hamdeli, “These years, nothing has been done for the nurses. All the promises and support are on paper. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, we were lagging in terms of the number of nurses. During the Covid-19 outbreak, this shortage of nurses became worse.”

The MEK, the Iranian opposition to the mullahs’ regime, has been monitoring the situation since the beginning of the outbreak because the corrupt mullahs’ regime cannot be trusted to be honest in such situations. The regime claims that the numbers of people have died – just a sixth of the figure stated by the MEK.

An angry nurse, interviewed by state-run Farhikhtegan on December 20^th, said: “Which problem should I speak of? Do we have many problems? You mean to tell me the country’s officials don’t’ know the troubles nurses face?… We face discrimination… we are struggling with our livelihoods and we can’t manage with 20-30 million (rials). We don’t have job security… with have much bigger problems, but who is listening?” The channel admitted that many nurses earned so little that they were forced to work in more than one hospital.

Khamenei’s crocodile tears reflect a concern within the regime that growing anger expressed by nurses will spread further in Iranian society. There is a strong bond between ordinary Iranians and nurses and a lot of sympathy for their grievances.

Khamenei had options open to his regime early on in the pandemic which he chose not to use. In many countries facing the same problem as Iran, governments spent billions of dollars supporting health workers and ordinary workers and small businesses badly affected by the pandemic. The Khamenei regime’s response in comparison has been pathetic.

The regime’s own health minister, Saied Namaki, himself questioned in October where the government’s financial assistance had disappeared too: “From the 1 billion euro that was agreed that we take from the development fund, we have only received a small portion. I don’t know what another more important task it has been allocated to. Where are the 1 billion euros from the development fund that was supposed to be allocated to the coronavirus response?”

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Unfortunately for Iran’s nurses and Iran’s masses, the reason why the regime hasn’t stumped up with pandemic resource funding is that the money has been earmarked already for fruitless vanity projects such as supporting terrorist proxy groups abroad and developing nuclear weapons. Endemic corruption within the regime and the wider government has meant that even more of the public purse has been squandered.

As Hamdeli wrote on December 19^th, a “deep rift between the poor and the rich” has been created as a result of endemic corruption amongst officials. The state-run daily warned of increasing impatience and outrage amongst the Iranian people.

Khamenei is smart enough to know why the regime is so unpopular, but seems incapable of doing anything positive about it, except for issuing weasel words and blaming others apart from himself. “Three or four years ago, I said that we need to hire 30,000 nurses, but officials did not comply,” he complains. In fact, he and his regime have had plenty of time to address the very real issues within Iran but have been too arrogant to care. The regime has lost any credibility it ever had amongst Iranian society and soon it will be swept away in a tidal wave of rage.

and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube