Corona Covid-19 Statistics in IRAN

Iran was able to overcome the corona epidemic crisis by vaccinating 76% of the target population. Until July 11, 2022, according to the statistics, 64,647,488 people have injected the first dose of vaccine, 58,000,921 people have injected the second dose, and 27,754,172 people have injected the third dose of vaccine. Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, PastoCovac, COVIran Barekat and Iranian-Australian Spikogen were the vaccines that were injected into people in Iran.

According to the official statistics of Iran’s Ministry of Health, 7,238,840 people have been infected with Corona and 141,390 people have died.

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IRAN to administer 50 mn Corona vaccines by end of summer

Iran’s new Health Minister Bahram Einollah has said that the country will break Germany’s record of weekly administering of 5 million doses of vaccines.

Speaking to reporters after attending a meeting with the Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday, Bahram Einollah, the new Iranian health minister said that the general vaccination of the Iranian people is gaining momentum, adding that the country will administer 50 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of summer.

He said while at the end of the previous administration in the middle of summer only 5 million doses of vaccines had been administered in the country, while after the new administration took office, the campaign accelerated and now the vaccination rate has exceeded more than 38 million of doses.

The new health minister added that the vaccination of 18-year-old people will begin very soon.

According to him, efforts are underway to vaccinate students and young people quickly.

He also said that soon all those who want to leave the country should have received two doses of vaccine, and upon their return to the country, they must have a negative PCR test in order to avert a new wave of the coronavirus in the country.

Einollah also noted that the new government in Iran under President Ebrahim Raeisi has authorized the domestic production of five Covid-19 vaccines.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Iran’s National Task Force for Fighting Covid-19 Alireza Raeisi who said that the country has not got through the deadly fifth wave of the Covid-19.

Raeisi predicted that the daily death toll from the pandemic in Iran will decline from the current 500 to below 50 people in the middle of fall, when a large portion of the Iranian population has received both doses of the vaccines.

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Speaking to Iranian state TV on Sunday night, Health Minister Saeed Namaki issued an emergency permit to use COV-Iran Barakat in the current vaccination of the population.

He also said that the necessary permit to use Iran-Cuba jointly produced COVID vaccine will also be issued as early as next week.

The move comes amid reports of a shortage of vaccines in Iran as the vaccination of elderly aged above 60 is underway.

This is while, Jafar Sadegh Tabrizi, Director General for PHC Network Management at the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday that the country needs 120,000,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines. He also said that a new shipment of vaccines containing a million doses will enter the country in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Mohammad-Reza Shanesaz, said Sunday the Iranian citizens who have been injected with a foreign-made coronavirus vaccine might be injected with an Iranian-made vaccine for their second dose. He assured that the Iranian and foreign-made vaccines are made in the same way and with the same quality.

The National Task Force for Fighting Coronavirus in Iran has announced that the second dose of Chinese vaccine will be distributed from Saturday and the second dose of Sputnik V will also be available.

Iranian Sputnik vaccine to be unveiled

Iran’s Health Minister Namaki informed that the Iranian version of the Sputnik Covid-19 vaccine will be unveiled on Sat.

Iranian Minister Masoud Namaki vowed that all Iranians will be vaccinated by the end of Autumn by domestically produced or imported vaccines.

The Spokesman of the Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA) said in mid-June that the Islamic Republic of Iran joined the club of manufacturers of coronavirus, COVID-19, vaccine.

In a tweet, Kianoush Jahanpour wrote, “Islamic Republic of Iran joined the coronavirus, COVID-19, vaccine manufacturers’ club by issuing a license for emergency use of COV-Iran Barakat; Iran, Russia, United States, China, UK, and India.”

Cuban Soberana 02 COVID-19 vaccine showing 62% efficiency

The Cuban biopharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma announced that the Soberana 02 vaccine against COVID-19 has an efficacy of over 60 percent.

“With only 2 doses, #Soberana02 reached 62% efficacy,” BioCubaFarma tweeted on Saturday.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted that the result has been confirmed by an independent committee with the Instituto Finlay de Vacunas, but the emergency use of the vaccine is yet to be approved by the Cuban regulatory agency CECMED, Sputnik reported.

“The efficacy of #Soberana02, in its two doses, exceeds the requirements of the World Health Organization for a vaccine candidate against #COVID19 to become an effective vaccine, which is 50%,” Diaz-Canel tweeted, adding that data on the three-shot Soberana Plus vaccine will be available soon.

Cuba has developed five promising vaccine candidates: Soberana 01, Soberana 02, Soberana Plus, Mambisa and Abdala. Over 4.3 million people have participated in trials of the Soberana 02 and Abdala vaccines, according to Cuba’s health ministry.

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We are on in a shelter for homeless women in a western neighborhood of Tehran. Tehran municipality built and equipped this place with the help of donors.
One of the early challenges facing almost all cities all around the world was the shortage of face masks. And this was no exception for the shelters. In fact, given that most of the homeless suffer from long term conditions, becoming infected with the virus could have severe consequences for them. So, the shelters started to produce their own masks; thousands of them every day.

Roqiyeh Beigzadeh, Social worker: Chitgar homeless shelter for women has a bed capacity of 450. Currently around 150 people – mainly addicts and those rejected by their families- between the ages of 18 to 60 reside here. The center is open 24/7, and aside from providing three hot meals, it also offers medical and psychiatric services and consultations to individuals, and works to reunite them with their families.

Beigzadeh said: Coronavirus made our work much harder since we had to check the residents’ symptoms and disinfect the facility on a daily basis, as well as providing prevention training for them.

She added: A face mask production workshop was assembled with the help of the residents to produce, disinfect and package between 500 to 1000 masks daily.

Aida, 37 years old: The safe space this center creates, as well as the possibility of staying around the clock and, of course, the excellent rapport with social workers are some of the more important reasons convincing me to stay here for a long time. Here we have everything a woman needs. We were quarantined after the emergence of the outbreak. Our symptoms like fever were checked, and thank God I had no problem here. I go out with my friends here from time to time to take care of my personal and sometimes administrative work. There is a theater, a library and sports equipment, and I use these facilities.

Tanaz Amini, Emergency medical technician & paramedic: During this time we only had one suspicious case who was then sent to the hospital and later diagnosed with an overdose. Aside from that, we have had no other suspicious cases in the three months since the start of the outbreak. In the early days, the homeless would not accept the new health protocols and resisted them. But with the passage of time and some training, they would come to us to have their symptoms checked and make sure they did not have the disease.

This is Khavaran Shelter in southeast of Tehran with a 600 bed capacity. Until before coronavirus, its sleeping capacity was never even nearly full in spring and summer. But now, the capacity has been increased to 1000.

Abbas Nejad, Technical assistant, Khavaran shelter: The shelter has a capacity of 450 people, and it admits people from 18 to 80 years old. With the spread of coronavirus and the closure of other addiction treatment centers, there’s been an increase in the number of referrals. Following the announcement of health protocols, our job became harder. Accordingly, we disinfect the complex several times a day. Before admission, we disinfect the individuals. They have seperate beds.

Pirouz Hanachi, Tehran mayor : The 21 shelters of Tehran host about 66,000 people every month. The individuals receive three meals a day as well as medical care. Despite the fact the shelters are often crowded, we have not recorded any covid-19 since the start of the outbreak.

Tehran mayor said: We achieved this feat with help from the individuals themselves – after receiving proper training and equipment like face masks- and following the implementation of strict health protocols like constant disinfection of the facilities.

Tehran was one the first and worst-hit cities in the world. The early days of the pandemic were chaotic with people panic buying sanitary products and staple food items. But even back then, the municipality never seized its services to the most vulnerable and the needy. And that’s why no one -not a single soul- in the homeless population has contracted the disease so far; a truly remarkable feat.
We are a strong nation. We have experienced all sorts of ups and downs in recent history only to come on top successfully every single time. So, I’m sure we will put this crisis behind us with flying colors. But this doesn’t mean we should relax precautions.

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Ayatollah Khamenei attended a Muharram mourning ceremony

The Muharram mourning ceremony was held at the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyeh with Ayatollah Khamenei in attendance. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, this year’s mourning ceremonies are not being held publicly.

What is the origin of Ashura?

Leila Yazdani: If we wish to find out the causes of the rise of the Imam Hussain (A.S.) we have to make a search for its preliminaries during a period of at least thirty years preceding that time, because about thirty years after the migration of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), there had taken place such developments as had made necessary a movement like this in the Islamic society.

At this time, the Islamic method underwent a change and it assumed another posture. Taking advantage of this state of affairs the people began to amass wealth and property from the Baytul Mal (public treasury) of the Muslims. It was the same Baytul Mal that was guarded so carefully by Imam Ali (AS) during the period of his caliphate.

After Caliph Uthman, Imam Ali (AS) attained the caliphate. The difficult task for Ali (AS), on account of which battles were also fought, was to control these influential persons and not to permit any person any longer to take even one dinar from the Baytul Mal of the Muslims without proper accounting. He wanted to restrain the people from all sorts of covetousness, greed, and bad habits.

Imam Ali (AS) had fought battles against Mu’awiya because Mu’awiya continuously violated the Islamic principles. Imam Al-Hassan (AS) had to swallow the bitter pill of making a peace agreement with Mu’awiya, in order to safeguard the security of the Ummah which was at stake. But, Imam Hussain (A.S.) as the Head of Ahlul Bayt (PBUH) never recognized Mu’awiya nor his followers.

When Yazid son of Mu’awiya declared himself as a ruler over the Ummah, he demanded Imam Hussain’s (A.S.) allegiance of loyalty. Imam Hussain (A.S.) on his part flatly rejected Yazid’s rule and behavior, for there was no way Yazid could represent Islam. But Yazid, the tyrant ruler over the Ummah, was adamant in his demand. Like his father Mu’awiya, Yazid used all possible means like bribery, coercion, pressure, threats, and force to receive the people’s acceptance of him as the legitimate ruler.

Many people were worried, threats to their lives and livelihood was too menacing, so they grudgingly and reluctantly gave in. But, Imam Hussain (A.S.) and his family (who practiced Islam in its true sense), did not give in. As the true representative of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Imam Hussain (A.S.) flatly refused accepting Yazid either as a Khalifa or a leader of Islam. Despite Yazid’s intimidating military power the Imam stood firm in his resolve and chose to challenge Bani Umayya’s authorities.

Imam Hussain (A.S.) also knew that giving allegiance of loyalty to an imposter like Yazid would certainly place Islam at great jeopardy. Imam Hussain (A.S.) and a majority of true Muslims believed that Yazid the then brutal ruler of Bani Ummayad was openly going against the pure and genuine teachings of Islam in public and violating the Sunnah of the holy prophet and the core practices of Islam.Therefore he decided to leave Mecca for Kufa to prepare for a confrontation with Yazid and his forces. Infact, Imam Hussain’s (A.S.) refusal to accept the tyrant Yazid’s allegiance triggered the Battle of Karbala on the Day of Ashura.

The Imam (AS) quoted the Prophet (PBUH):

“If somebody witnesses a tyrannical king who practices forbidden (Haram) acts as if they are permissible (Halal), breaks the Divine Promise, opposes the Prophet’s (PBUH) way of life (Sunnah), and oppresses people while saying and doing nothing to stand against the tyrannical ruler, Allah (SWT) will place him/her in the abode of that oppressor.”

Then the Prophet (PBUH) enumerated the crimes of the Umayyads. The above saying was used in either Imam Hussain’s (A.S.) letter or speech. It not only demonstrates his irreconcilability with the enemy and strong determination but also indicates that he would make any effort to demonstrate this heroic spirit to the society.

After arriving in Karbala, Imam Hussain (A.S.) gave his companions a speech, saying:

“Under such circumstances, a faithful person should be willing to make any sacrifice to see his Lord (God). In such a situation as mine, I would consider death nothing but salvation and living with oppressors nothing but humiliation and ignominy”.

The Islamic Ummah should never forget the event of Ashura. Definitely, Islam is alive because of the event of Ashura and the efforts of Imam Hussain (A.S.). If it had not been for the event of Ashura, Islam would have definitely deviated from its path and nothing would have remained from it. The greatness of Ashura is because of this./ SHAFAQNA

Sources:

Heroic Manifestations of Ashura, Abdullah Jawadi Amuli

A Probe into the History of Ashura’, Ibrahim Ayati

Karbala the chain of events , Ramzan Sabir

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Production and distribution of face masks and other protective gears
Disinfection of public places and cars
Distribution of essential food supplies and cash handouts
Volunteering at hospitals and other medical facilities

Tehran’s Autism Charity distribute over 80,000 packs

Since the early days of the corona covid19 pandemic, the Shokoufeha Charity for children with autism, In one of the Tehran’s eastern neighborhoods halted most of its activities and instead had these volunteers prepare and distribute for free sanitary packages.

Behrouz Khosravan CEO of Shokoufeh Charity for Autistic Children said: “The Charity was founded in 2017. It has taken 70 kids under its wings, providing them with food parcels and medicine. 30 kids receive monthly pensions while we provide rehabilitation services to 45 kids at the charity’s central branch.”

Director of Shokoufeh Charity added: “The activities of the rehabilitation center were halted soon after the start of the outbreak. Therefore, our psychotherapists and occupational therapists provided families of the autistic kids with educational content online. We also prepared sanitary packages and distributed them among the families. We have managed to distribute over 80 thousand packs among supported families and across the city.”
Haniyeh Abbasi is social worker in Shokoufeh Charity for Autistic Children said: “In early February 2020, after the outbreak, the charity decided to prepare and distribute sanitary packages that include a face mask, gloves and a hand sanitizer gel among the needy to help lighten the load for hospital staff and officials alike. We hope the recipients of these packages can use them in good health. We also gave these packages to the families of autistic children under the charity’s protection since most of them are financially challenged. So we decided we could prepare these packages with the help of donors to lighten the load for them.”

Hanieh mention that: “After outbreak we started to reduce the number of the classes and instead offered online sessions. We also pay their families some cash handouts every month to help them with their medical and other daily expenses.”

Retired teacher who is member of Charity member also said: “Whoever has to deal with autistic children inevitably becomes kind and compassionate. Therefore, all these people here have been doing voluntary work without ever once complaining.”

The volunteer who took the corona

Firouzgar Hospital has been one of the main coronavirus treatment centers in Tehran, and also where Meysam Ameri was working voluntarily until he contracted the disease.
Meysam Ameri is a 35-year old graphic designer working out of his home studio in north of Tehran. Since the early days of the outbreak, He began his voluntary work by handing out free face masks and gloves in Tehran subway, and disinfecting the Grand Bazaar.
In early April 2020, he volunteered to help the fight against coronavirus at Firouzgar hospital where he finally contracted the disease 20 days later.

Meysam recounted his story of joining Firouzgar Hospital:
It was 25 of us, men and women, who joined the hospital as the first volunteer group. We had an agreement to take care of all the things left unfinished after receiving initial training. For a while, we only did office work and disinfected the exteriors until we gained the trust of the hospital staff, and were then allowed in the Coronavirus ward after receiving appropriate training.
Aside from carrying out duties like taking test samples to the lab, and taking the results back, and going with patients to get CT Scans, we – as caregivers- also helped the patients getting to, using the toilet or changing their diapers.
We would form emotional bonds with patients to make their hospital experience and their battle with the disease more bearable. We would also help patients video call their family members. Other creative things we would do include giving them haircuts and even massage! We would also make fresh fruit juice. It was a favorite with patients and the medical staff alike!
We were later received training for some more technical nursing tasks like taking blood pressure and body temperature, and reading a pulse oximeter that monitors oxygen levels in the patients’ blood.
About 80 other caregivers joined us in the meantime. Still anyone who desired could leave. So on my last day at the hospital, there were about 20 of us volunteers there.
One other interesting thing we did was to throw a surprise birthday party for one of the nurses whose wedding had been cancelled due to the pandemic. We also held a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Imam Mahdi on Mid-Sha’ban. Just like our other expenses like the cost of gowns and face masks, the cost of holding the event was paid through donations.

Meysam told us the hospital work was heavy and stressful. He would start working after performing his prayers at dawn, and would not go to bed until well after midnight. He believes his extreme physical fatigue contributed to his disease: One night, after twenty something days at the hospital, I realized I had a temperature and I was breathing heavily. At first, I thought it was just fatigue from working long hours. I went to the emergency department and underwent a CT scan just to realize my lungs were affected. I stayed there for three days until I could breathe easier. Then I spent 20 more days at home self-quarantining.
Coughing was not one of the symptoms. Instead, the symptoms were a high fever, and severe muscle and chest pains. Three weeks after the quarantine, my breaths are still short and heavy.
But none of these pains hurt Meysam as much as the pain of not seeing his family, he mentioned: I could not see any of my family members for 45 days, from the night I was admitted to hospital to the last day of my quarantine. I have a 9-month old son and a 5-year old daughter. My son had started crawling and grown his first teeth when I got to meet him again. Separation from my wife, kids and parents was my toughest experience.

Tehran municipality and volunteer work in Corona pandemic

Tehran Municipality, with extensive coordination, provided the possibility of volunteer groups. Groups that produced and distributed masks and hygiene items, groups that disinfected places, and groups that distributed food packages to the needy were able to provide their services with the help of the Tehran Municipality.

Pirouz Hanachi Tehran Mayor during the visiting thousands of food packages prepared for the needy said: All donors, volunteers, Tehran municipality and Basij forces are working to create a database so that the process of distributing food and health packages could be done fairly.

Faezeh Dolati is cultural deputy of Tehran 7 district municipality mentioned:
The municipality of borough seven, as one of the twenty-two boroughs of Tehran, provides various services to the citizens such as:
⁃ holding entertainment activities like street carnivals in the neighborhoods. In this way, people by respecting social distance, can watch and enjoy from their homes.
⁃ Managing and coordinating voluntary services, for example We produced around 2 million face masks with participation of local volunteers.
⁃ Preparing and Distributing nonperishable food packages for impacted families in collaboration with local businesses In order to participating in social responsibility.
⁃ Transforming neighborhoods centers into covid-19 service centers for monitoring and screening to help health care system
⁃ and finally, identifying vulnerable people and those who lost their jobs due to Corona virus crisis while distributing health packages

Mehdi Shirzad headquarters office of organizing social participation in Tehran mucipality about about Tehran’ voluntary work during the lockdown said: Fairly speaking, they did absolutely great with the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, and with collecting donations. So did mosque Imams and all who do social work there. Youth volunteer groups also helped a lot in the neighborhoods. This proved that urban crisis management is almost impossible without citizens’ help. The municipality’s most important achievement was the creation of a platform to connect NGOs to volunteers. So citizens can upload their resumes on this platform and then join events organized by NGOs, or even hold their own charity events.

Tehran Volunteer group preparing 3500 hot meals every day

Mostafa Foroutan who is Heydaraneh Campaign Manager said:
A number of Volunteer groups joined forces and created the Heydaraneh movement to be able to produce more comprehensive work during the coronavirus outbreak. In the beginning, like many other groups, and since we didn’t know how to exactly combat the virus, we began our activities by disinfecting public places, and later produced and distributed face masks.
In the next phase, and on the recommendation of hospitals, we started making a gravy-like puree from quail meat extract and medicinal herbs.
The movement also managed to prepare and distribute about 4000 essential food parcels for needy families.
We also collected donations for those directly impacted by the outbreak.

Hossein Bolandimonfared director of volunteer group that preparing food said: During the coronavirus outbreak, with the help of other volunteer groups, we have been preparing 3500 high quality hot meals every day.
Making fresh fruit juice for hospitals is another thing our group has done. A supervisor from the health ministry would oversee the whole process 24/7 to make sure the product meets health standards.
I should stress that we received an unprecedented amount of volunteer help for the supply, preparation and distribution of the meals. The level of participation was much higher than during the 2019 floods and Kermanshah’s 2017 earthquake.
Iranians have proven to be people of hard times. While people in other parts of the world were forming long queues outside supermarkets, and even seen fighting, Iranians were standing in line for voluntary work. This is really valuable that people care about one another in this situation.

The 6 months after the coronavirus pandemic, about 360 thousand Iranians have contracted coronavirus, and seven thousands -unfortunately- lost their lives. The first wave of the covid-19 is now behind us.
We, the people of Tehran, have brought this malicious outbreak under control for now, well of course, with the help of the government and municipality. The exact numbers are still to be fully worked out, but estimates show over half a million Tehraners have offered some kind of voluntary service during the first wave of the outbreak.

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Iran coronavirus fatalities drop to double figures for first time in month

Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki says the number of fatalities from the novel coronavirus pandemic has dropped to double figures for the first time in one month.

Speaking to the Iranian people on Instagram live on Tuesday 14 April 2020, Namaki hailed the country’s “proper” fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that 98 deaths from the disease were registered in the past 24 hours.

“We are implementing smart distancing and have announced protocols for it. We want to say that we are currently at a more appropriate situation,” he said.

Namaki, however, warned that the country will face new challenges if health protocols and smart distancing are not observed properly.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the new deaths brought the total number of fatalities to 4,683 since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran in late February.

Jahanpour added 1,574 new infections had been recorded over the past 24 hours, taking the overall number of confirmed cases to 74,877.

He noted that 48,129 of hospitalized patients had recovered and been discharged, and that 3,691 people are in critical conditions.

Iran’s successful response to the virus comes despite the illegal US sanctions, which are hampering the country’s efforts to rein in the virus.

Iran has been employing strict precautionary measures since the virus surfaced in the country. It has heavily ramped up the required health services, including by increasing the number of hospital beds, and shot up the production of disinfectants and relevant sanitary items.

The Health Ministry reported Monday that new cases of coronavirus infections and deaths from the viral outbreak had been declining across most of the country’s 31 provinces.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Iran has handled the novel coronavirus outbreak better than Europe and the United States, assuring that the country’s stocks of basic commodities are replenished better than ever, unlike the scenario unfolding in the US and many other Western states.

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He said that production of Favipiravir in Iran is in the phase of clinical trials and as planned the primary substance of its will be domestically produced in the near future.

Shanehsaz added that in case of any deficiency, Iran has imports of anti-coronavirus medicine on agenda, as well.

On April 8, the Iranian version of antiviral drug Favipiravir, which is said to be effective in treating the coronavirus, begun clinical trials through efforts of researchers at Shahid Beheshti Medical University.

Researchers at Shahid Beheshti Medical University launched small trials of the antiviral drug Favipiravir at Masih Daneshvari Hospital, which is one of the leading medical centers treating patients with the new coronavirus infection in the Iranian capital.

On April 5, the head of Iran’s Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Ali Akbar Velayati, said Iran has produced Favipiravir for the first time.

“Fortunately, Favipiravir was produced for the first time at Shahid Beheshti Medical University’s School of Pharmacy and has been made available to Masih Daneshvari Hospital to be used for the treatment of coronavirus patients,” Velayati said.

The new development came as US sanctions hinder the country’s access to drugs and medical equipment.

The flu drug was hailed by Chinese health officials as “clearly effective” when used on 340 patients in trials there that showed reduced recovery time and improved lung function.

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The ozone generator device could be used to disinfect house, office, hospital, rooms, car, and the bed of a coronavirus patient as well as fruits and vegetables. Ozone gas has also been used to fight fungi, bacteria, germs as well as SARS and influenza viruses.

East Asian countries have also used this method to fight the coronavirus.

This Iranian knowledge-based company was able to indigenize the ozone generator device with a third of the price of its similar foreign product.

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Indeed, while the mantra of good governance over the past century has been to “think global, act local”, we must today think and act both locally and globally.

Unfortunately, the small-mindedness that has dominated the politics of various countries in past years has not dissipated. Rather, those who have aggressively advocated pursuit of narrowly defined “national interests” at any cost are doubling down. The consequences of this posturing are many.

In Iran, urban administrators are left facing an unprecedented public health crisis. Figures show that 3,160 had died from the disease by 2 April and there are more than 50,000 cases of infection. The rate of infections is not yet slowing, and many of them are in Tehran, the city of which I am mayor.

Doubtless there are things that we could do differently, like every country in the world. But we are operating against the backdrop of the most extreme sanctions regime in history. The US embargo not only prohibits American companies and individuals from conducting lawful trade with Iranian counterparts, but given that the sanctions are extra-territorial, all other countries and companies are also bullied into refraining from doing legitimate business with Iranians, even the selling of medicines.

As a result, the ability of my colleagues and I to provide the health, logistical and other essential infrastructure necessary to combat the disease has been drastically reduced. We experience this loss every day, and it can be counted in people that would not have died.
This unjust treatment of Iran has come about via the policies of one country – the United States – whose ruling administration does not seem to prioritise even its own national interests, but instead the narrow interests of a governing party. The outcome of such irresponsible policies and behaviour is not limited to Iran; they have also inflicted harm on the American public.

Indeed, the Donald Trump administration’s refusal to halt its economic warfare against Iran is directly impeding our efforts to deal with a virus which knows no borders. Is it in the US’s national interest for the coronavirus pandemic to become permanent?

In order to better confront these new global crises, there is a need for politicians to realise that the path to pursuing national interests is not separate or contrary to that of global interests and international accountability.

Of equal importance, it must be recognised that as long as the general consensus in international politics does not actively move toward reducing injustice and inequality beyond national and racial boundaries, global crises will continue to indiscriminately endanger every country in the world.

The world cannot go on like this. If global leaders fail to seize the opportunity to embrace change, we will all continue to remain highly vulnerable to communicable diseases, environmental catastrophes, global warming, terrorism, violent extremism and other shared threats.

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