Wed 11 March 2020:
Iran has had 291 deaths from coronavirus and 8,042 infections, according to the country’s official figures as of Tuesday.
The virus has also infected and killed several government officials and military and religious figures in the country.
Infected officials; confirmed and unconfirmed cases:
Esmail Najar, the head of Iran’s emergency response organization, has been infected with coronavirus, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Monday.
Mohammad Sadr, a member of Iran’s Expediency Council, has been infected with coronavirus, the editor-in-chief of the state-run news website Entekhab said on March 5.
Member of parliament Zohreh Elahian tested positive for coronavirus and is hospitalized in a hospital in Tehran, the semi-official YJC news agency reported on March 5.
Elahian had served as an MP from 2008 to 2012 and was recently elected again in Iran’s February 21 polls.
The exile-run IranWire news site reported on March 4 that Iran’s first vice president Eshaq Jahangiri has tested positive for coronavirus and is undergoing treatment.
Pirhossein Koolivand, the head of Iran’s emergency medical services, has been infected with coronavirus, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported on March 3.
Farideddin Haddad-Adel, son of Gholamali Hadad-Adel – a close ally of and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – tweeted on February 29 that he has been infected with coronavirus. Farideddin Hadad-Adel’s sister is Khamenei’s daughter-in-law.
Member of parliament Masoumeh Aghapour Alishahi announced on February 29 that she has been infected with coronavirus.
Mojtaba Zolnour, the chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign affairs committee, announced on February 27 that he has been infected with coronavirus.
Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iran’s Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, tested positive for coronavirus, the state-run daily IRAN reported on February 27. She was the first member of President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet to be infected with the novel coronavirus.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran’s former justice minister and advisor to the current head of the judiciary, was hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms on February 27, several state-run Iranian media outlets reported. Pourmohammadi had tested positive for coronavirus, asserted the editor-in-chief of the state-run Entekhab news website at the time.
Pourmohammadi has since been discharged from hospital, according to the latest reports.
Iraj Harirchi, the deputy minister for health, has been infected with coronavirus, state media reported on February 25.
Iranian member of parliament Mahmoud Sadeghi said in a tweet on February 25 that he tested positive for coronavirus.
Reza Rahmani, Iran’s Minister of Industry, has been infected with coronavirus, the state-run news website Asr-e Iran reported, saying he was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Tehran.
The semi-official ILNA news agency however later reported citing a source at the Ministry of Industry that Rahmani was not hospitalized due to coronavirus but due to “chemical injuries” sustained during the eight-year-long war with Iraq (1980-1988).
Officials killed by coronavirus; confirmed and unconfirmed cases:
Former lawmaker Mohammadreza Rahchamani died on Monday from coronavirus, the official IRNA news agency reported. The 64-year-old was a member of parliament from 1984 to 2000.
Farzad Tazari, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has also died from coronavirus, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday. Tazari was the former deputy of the political bureau of the IRGC.
He had also been part of the IRGC intelligence organization, according to Tasnim.
Reza Modarresi, a cleric from Qom, died from coronavirus, the semi-official Khabar Online news agency reported on March 7.
Cleric Ali Hosseini, the head of the Islamic Development Organization in the city of Aliabad-e-Katul in Golestan province, died on March 5, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Friday.
While Mehr did not cite the cause of his death, other Iranian media outlets reported that Hosseini died from coronavirus.
Two other Iranian clerics, Mostafa Amini and Nematollah Javadi Bamiani, have also died from coronavirus, according to unconfirmed reports.
Mousa Torabzadeh, the former prosecutor of Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, a city in Gilan province, has also died from coronavirus, according to a Telegram channel affiliated with the Iranian judiciary.
Ayatollah Reza Mohammadi Langroudi also died from the virus, state media confirmed on March 7.
Cleric Akbar Dehghan also died from coronavirus on March 5, the semi-official Khabar Online news agency reported. Dehghan headed the Qom seminary interpretation staff.
Ayatollah Mohsen Habibi, a member of the Supreme Council of Tehran’s Seminaries, also died from coronavirus, the state-run Rokna news agency confirmed on March 5.
The Iranian judiciary’s website, Mizan, reported on March 5 that cleric Ali Khalafi, a deputy to the head of the judiciary, has died.
While Mizan did not cite the cause of death, Iranians online speculated that coronavirus was the cause.
Rasoul Azizi, the head of Gilan’s police inspection department, also died, local media reported, without citing the cause of death.
Azizi is also believed to have been infected with coronavirus.
Member of parliament Fatemeh Rahbar died due to coronavirus, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.
Hossein Sheikholeslam, Iran’s former ambassador to Syria and former advisor to current Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, died from coronavirus, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on March 5.
Ahmad Toyserkani, an adviser to the head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi, died from coronavirus, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported on March 3.
Mohammad Haj Abolghasemi, an official of the Basij Resistance Force – a paramilitary arm of the IRGC – died on March 3, state media reported, without citing the cause of death.
Several users online, however, including a user who says Abolghasemi was the brother of his sister’s husband, said that he died due to coronavirus.
Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of Iran’s Expediency Council, died from coronavirus, state media reported on March 2.
Member of parliament Mohammad Ali Ramazani Dastak died in disputed circumstances on February 29, as officials claimed he died of the “flu” and “chemical injuries” sustained during the war with Iraq but journalists suggested he was another victim of coronavirus.
Reza Pourkhanali, an agriculture ministry official in Gilan province, died from coronavirus, state media reported on February 28.
Hamed Jalali Kashani, a pro-regime activist and an advocate for child marriage, died from coronavirus on February 28, the semi-official YJC news agency reported.
Ahmad Khosravi, another pro-regime activist, also died from coronavirus. News of his death was widely circulated on social media amongst pro-regime users.
Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican Hadi Khosroshahi died on February 27 from coronavirus, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Khosroshahi was a prominent figure in the Qom seminary and was a representative of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the Ministry of Islamic Guidance after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. After two years, he became the ambassador of the Islamic Republic to the Vatican.
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