Council Member Close to Iran’s Khamenei Dies from Coronavirus

Iran

March 2nd, 9:10am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Men wearing face masks wait for a bus in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 1, 2020. (AP)

A member of a council that advises supreme leader Ali Khamenei has died after after falling ill from the new coronavirus, reported Iranian state radio on Monday. Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi died at 71, it said. The council advises Khamenei, as well as settles disputes between the supreme leader and parliament. His death comes as other top officials have contracted the virus in Iran, which has the highest death toll in the world after China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Iran has reported 978 confirmed cases of the new virus with 54 deaths from the illness it causes, called COVID-19. Across the wider Middle East, there are over 1,150 cases of the new coronavirus, the majority of which are linked back to Iran. Trying to stem the outbreak of the new coronavirus, Tehran on Monday held an online-only briefing by the Foreign Ministry as Britain began evacuating nonessential staff and families from the country. Experts worry Iran's percentage of deaths to infections, around 5.5%, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be much higher than current figures show. Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi opened the online news conference addressing the outbreak, dismissing an offer of help for Iran by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Iran and the US have seen some of the worst tensions since its 1979 revolution in recent months, culminating in the American drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad and a subsequent Iranian ballistic missile counterattack against US forces. The British Embassy meanwhile has begun evacuations over the virus. "Essential staff needed to continue critical work will remain," the British Foreign Office said. "In the event that the situation deteriorates further, the ability of the British Embassy to provide assistance to British nationals from within Iran may be limited." While Iran has closed schools and universities to stop the spread of the virus, major Shiite shrines have remained open despite civilian authorities calling for them to be closed. The cities of Mashhad and Qom in particular, both home to shrines, have been hard-hit by the virus. Armenia, meanwhile, will temporarily suspend its visa-free regime for Iranian citizens within the next five days, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a government meeting about coronavirus prevention on Monday. Armenia reported its first coronavirus infection on Sunday, in a citizen returning from neighboring Iran, and on Monday said it would extend the closure of its border with Iran, which was announced on Feb. 23. Pashinyan did not say how long the additional extension would be. Uzbekistan suspended flights to and from Iran, Afghanistan and Italy to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Central Asian nation's foreign ministry said on Monday. Kazakhstan will bar Iranian nationals from entering the Central Asian nation starting from March 5, the government said on Monday, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2158656/council-member-close-iran%E2%80%99s-khamenei-dies-coronavirus