The situation in Iran is getting increasingly tense between the government and the people as the Coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the country and the regime refuses to be truthful about the situation.

The Iranian New Year (Nowruz) began last Friday, but celebrations are muted in the Gulf country because of the coronavirus crisis that has now claimed over 13,000 lives.

Despite, and in some ways because of, the current situation, the Iranian people still believe that the best solution to all of Iran’s woes in to overthrow the mullahs’ religious dictatorship.

The Coronavirus outbreak in Iran continues to run rampant across the country. So far, more than 12,400 people have died and the virus has reached 228 cities. No country in the world has lost more people to COVID-19 than Iran.

Reports from Iran indicate that dozens of health workers have contracted Coronavirus and died as a result of being severely underequipped. Since the beginning of the outbreak, the notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been hoarding necessary medical supplies, leaving health workers including doctors and nurses on the frontline to fend for themselves.

The presence of the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)   terrorist networks in Iran has led to sanctions being enforced on Iran’s regime by the United States.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last Tuesday that 50% of government workers would now stay home to slow the coronavirus’ spread; just days after he downplayed any need for social distancing or reduced economic activity, and claimed that these changes would only be needed for 2-3 weeks.

The people of Iran are living in uncertain times. There is an atmosphere of fear in the country because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Not only are they having to contend with a virus that can be deadly to many, but they are also dealing with the consequences of the regime’s inability to manage the situation adequately.

In a webinar: Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), shed light on the origin of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, which has so far claimed the lives of over 11,500 people, according to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK Iran).

Today’s announcement from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) stated that Iran’s coronavirus death toll had hit at least 9,600 throughout the nation. Some of the figures have been released for the towns below.

• Ardabil 120,
• Golestan 490,
• Isfahan 690,
• Kerman 160,
• Lorestan 180,
• Mazandaran 620,
• Qazvin 250,
• Tehran 1,500.

Hospitals in Qazvin are overloaded with patients, so the International Exhibition Center now houses Coronavirus patients. The numbers falling victim to the virus are increasing on a daily basis in:

• Aliabad,
• Kordkuy,
• Maku,
• Neyshabur,
• Qazvin,
• Semnan,

Iran: Surging #Coronavirus death toll Over 9,600 die in 210 cities
The number of victims in Tehran province is at least 1,500, in Ardabil 120, in Kerman 160, in Mazandaran 620, in Isfahan 690, in Golestan 490, in Lorestan 180, and Qazvin 250 #COVIDー19 https://t.co/PWotRrHdYp

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 22, 2020

There is a lot of concern about the seriousness of the situation, so 10 former Health Insurance Organization directors collectively wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani stating that instant action is required as the country is likely to encounter serious public health problems ahead by the end of April.

In the meantime, Rouhani’s previous Health Minister, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, said today that since the middle of last December he had brought up the matter of the coronavirus outbreak with Iran’s senior officials, including the president but so far efforts to contain the problem have basically been ineffective.

Today, Ali Khamenei in his 40-minute speech said little which was of any use to address the state of the virus, but he did explain why he had turned down assistance offered by the United States to combat its effects. He emphasized that the U.S. had enough on its plate dealing with coronavirus and he also alleged that the U.S. was responsible for producing the virus in the first place. He said he did not trust the U.S. at all and pointed out that any drugs they may send are likely to lead to a further spread of the disease. Khamenei seriously believes that the coronavirus was deliberately produced to affect the Iranian people.

It has been reliably reported that many #prisoners at the Parsilon #Prison in Khorramabad have managed to escape with the help of outside help. https://t.co/JAqAxpMAQU#MEK #Iran @USAdarFarsi #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/9Vfc0TIqBe

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) March 22, 2020

 Mrs. Maryam Rajavi reveals Khamenei cruelty

As the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Mrs. Maryam Rajavi said Khamenei was cruel towards the coronavirus victims and he was far more worried about the prospects of a popular uprising. He had shown no willingness to provide support for the people. She emphasized that his condemnation of the U.S. and his accusation that the country had deliberately targeted Iran as a victim for coronavirus was just a way of concealing his incompetence in handling the devastating outbreak of COVID-19. She said this would do the regime no good in the long run, as sooner rather than later the people will rise up and overthrow this despotic regime.

It has been reliably reported that many prisoners at the Parsilon Prison in Khorramabad have managed to escape with the help of outside help. The prisoners seem to have been motivated by fears that they could contract COVID-19 and die due to the appalling response by the Iranian regime to the spread of the virus across Iran.

Mujahedin-e Khalq (#PMOI/#MEK Iran) announced yesterday, Saturday of March 21, 2020, that the number of #Coronavirus deaths has risen to 8,800 in 201 cities across #Iran.https://t.co/S8GkQk7zWt@USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/jJhh1Y6bHZ

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) March 22, 2020

Masked attackers from another city in Lorestan, Kuhdasht, appeared to have attacked the prison from the outside, while prisoners themselves caused a riot inside the prison. A few of the prison guards were killed, while the rest seemed to have lost control of the prison and its inmates due to sheer fear.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the main Iranian opposition coalition, has issued a statement about the breakout of prisoners.

The statement gave further details about the riot and subsequent escape of the prisoners. According to the report, the prisoners rebelled against the guards because of the fear of being affected by the coronavirus. 250 prisoners were involved in the rebellion. Several inmates were reported to have been killed when guards opened fire on them.

The IRGC is on the lookout around Khorramabad for escaped inmates, but they have been hampered by fires that have been lit on the roads by the escapees to deter being rounded up. Local residents of the city have helped the prisoners to flee by opening up their homes or driving them out of town away from the revolutionary guards who are searching for them.

Prisoners across Iran have been trapped as the deadly virus has spread across the country unchecked by the efforts of the regime. The incidence of infection has followed a classic exponential increase and it has put hundreds of thousands of inmates in the firing line for infection as there has been nothing done to protect them. Many of the prisoners are political prisoners and there have been strident calls for the regime to release these prisoners to help stop them from dying from the disease.

The Governor of Khorramabad, Jafar Tolabi, has not revealed how many prisoners escaped but admitted that the inmates of at least one prison ward had escaped.

#Iran is Using #Coronavirus as a Weapon Against Political Prisoners
The coronavirus epidemic has provided regime authorities with an opportunity to massacre the political prisoners by the disease or at least severely impair their health. #Covid_19 https://t.co/mtTk2bGLg9

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 21, 2020

It is thought that the regime has deliberately used the virus epidemic to intimidate and punish the political prisoners from the November uprising last year. Prison officials have deprived inmates of Iran’s prisons of basic sanitary conditions and instead have ordered family members of prisoners to provide them with supplies. At the same time, the inmates have been exposed to the ravages of the virus without any measures taken by prison authorities to protect them.

Iran’s resistance has urged the international community to stop the regime from creating yet another humanitarian crisis in its prisons.