Iran’s First VP, Two Ministers Contract Coronavirus: Report

There are conflicting reports that several Iranian authorities including the first vice-president and two ministers have been infected with the novel coronavirus after the contagious disease broke out in the country more than three week ago.

In the report on Wednesday, Fars News Agency has compiled a list of the Iranian officials and political figures who have been infected with or died of the novel coronavirus.

Among the patients are three cabinet members, including the first vice president, and five members of the Parliament.

The top figure of the list in the report is First Vice-President Es-haq Jahangiri, who has been purportedly kept in quarantine and is receiving treatment.

The other cabinet members infected with COVID-19 include Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Rahmani and Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Ali-Asghar Mounesan, both of whom are recovering from the disease, according to Fars.

The other figures who have been kept in quarantine, admitted to the hospital, or have recovered from the disease include newly-elected lawmaker Zohreh Elahian, President of the National Olympic Committee of Iran Reza Salehi Amiri, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, Head of Iran’s Emergency Services Organisation Pir-Hossein Kolivand, former minister of justice and interior Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mojtaba Zonnouri, Head of Iran’s Crisis Management Organization Esmaeil Najjar, Iranian Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs Massoumeh Ebtekar, member of the Expediency Council and an influential figure in Iran Leader’s office Mohammad Javad Iravani, and four other MPs, namely Masoumeh Aghapoor Alishahi, Mahmoud Sadeghi, Shahab Naderi, and Gholam-Reza Kateb.

The coronavirus has also taken the lives of a number of major figures, including newly-elected MP Fatemeh Rahbar, ex-ambassador to Syria Hossein Sheikholeslam, member of the Expediency Discernment Council Seyyed Mohammad Mirmohammadi, newly-elected lawmaker Mohammad Ali Ramezani, former lawmaker Mohammad Reza Rahchamani, former ambassador to Vatican City Seyyed Hadi Khosroshahi, advisor to the Judiciary chief Ahmad Tuiserkani, and Mojtaba Fazeli, the chief of staff of top cleric Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani.

Meanwhile, the reformist news website Ensaf News has dismissed speculation that First Vice President Jahangiri has been infected with coronavirus, saying the report released by Fars News is an “outright” lie.

The number of coronavirus infections in the country rose to 9,000 on Wednesday, out of whom 354 have died and 2,959 have recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

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