The world is to blame for Iran’s Coronavirus outbreak. Yes indeed, rather than accept responsibility for their own actions, pointing fingers of blame at everyone else is how Iran has chosen to roll.

“Iran’s oil minister has hit out at other countries for not declaring confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

The accuracy of the Islamic Republic’s data on the outbreak has been called into question, with 3,513 cases and 107 deaths confirmed by the country so far.

But Bijan Namdar Zangeneh told reporters ahead of Friday’s OPEC meeting in Vienna: “I believe that we are announcing and declaring our situation and some countries don’t say anything about their situation.””

Essentially Zangeneh wants Turkey and North Korea to step up to the plate and be truthful about their own Coronavirus issues. Good luck with that in regards to North Korea. They are even MORE secretive than China or Iran in regards to what is really happening inside their borders. Does he really think the NORKS will suddenly be honest with their own citizens let alone the rest of the world? I don’t think so.

Iran botched their response to the spread of Coronavirus from the very beginning. Five days ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei literally told Iranian citizens that the virus wasn’t a big deal and “prayer can solve many problems.” My eyes rolled so hard at that I think I gave myself a concussion.

Days after Khamenei’s ‘prayer solves all!’ medical advice, the total infected (that we know of given it is Iran) has reached 5,823 including 23 members of the Iranian Parliament, and 145 people have died.

Finally shutting schools and limiting travel is kind of like closing the barn door after the horses got out weeks ago, but again, that’s how Iran rolls. Two doctors, who practiced medicine in Iran for years, very clearly outline how Iran has created the crisis they are now dealing with.

“Hundreds of Chinese students and junior clerics study at the seminaries at Qum, which is the most important center of theological study for Shiite Muslims from across the world and draws pilgrims to its shrines.

Iranian businessmen frequently travel to China. Hundreds of Chinese workers and engineers are employed across Iran. China is an important partner for Iran, and Tehran did not risk slighting Beijing. Flights between Iran and China continued. Iran donated one million face masks to China.”

Turkey, whom Iran is now trying to shame into saying they have people infected, shut down all travel to/from China on January 31 and started screening passengers. When did Iran shut down travel to/from China? I can’t find reports anywhere that they have done so.

The first two deaths involved an Iranian businessman from Qum, who had been traveling back and forth between Iran and Wuhan province, and an Iranian doctor in Qum. Want to bet that doctor was the one who initially treated the businessman?

Now the virus has spread across the entire country. One of those infected is the infamous and heinous Masoumeh Ebtekar, whom the Iranian hostages referred to as “Sister Mary.” Another who was infected and is now dead was Hossein Sheikholeslam. He was one of the key leaders who led the attack on the U.S. Embassy in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

I feel for the citizens of Iran. As for “Sister Mary” and Hossein? I don’t care.

Back to Iran’s botched response. Iran did not restrict travel across the country until this week. Except that a travel restriction isn’t really in place. It’s a suggestion.

““People should not consider this as an opportunity to go travelling. They should stay home and take our warnings seriously,” Health Minister Saeed Namaki said on Thursday. “This virus is highly contagious. It is a serious matter, do not joke about it.””

That hasn’t stopped people from traveling across the country, and likely hasn’t stopped flights in and out of Iran.

Furthermore, people are refusing to go to the hospitals in the region because they are fearful of getting infected or worse at the hospital, and because medical personnel weren’t told by the Iranian government that Coronavirus was a problem!

Quite a number of people are attempting to shame the United States for the sanctions that are imposed against Iran. If the sanctions weren’t in place, then Iran would have the medicines and medical supplies needed to deal with the virus!

Sanctions don’t prevent medical aid. The problem isn’t sanctions; it’s Iran’s corrupt and thuggish regime. Let China’s doctors try to fix Iran’s health system. They’ll soon learn, if they don’t already know. https://t.co/oqWjxM0vZY

— Mike (@Doranimated) March 7, 2020

Mike is correct. Sanctions aren’t the problem here. The Iranian government put politics and their relationship with China above the welfare of Iranian citizens. They botched everything in regards to Coronavirus. Asking for sanctions to be lifted while blaming the world for the crisis they caused won’t hide that fact.

Feature Photo Credit: Mehdi Bolourian for Farsnews via Wikimedia Commons/Wikipedia, cropped and modified. **The one on the left, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, announced AFTER that news conference that he has Coronavirus**