Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and two other members of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet tested positive for coronavirus, the Associated Press reported on March 11.
The other two cabinet members who tested positive for the illness are Cultural Minister Ali Asghar Mounesan, and Industry, Mines and Business Minister Reza Rahmani. According to The Jerusalem Post, other Iranian officials who have gotten the illness include Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, top medical official Pir-Hossein Kolivand and two advisers to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. One of the Khamenei advisers died from it on March 2.
Additionally, 24 members of the Iranian parliament have gotten the illness and two have died, according to the Post. Senior officials in Hezbollah, Iran’s Shiite terror proxy, also have reportedly tested positive for the illness, prompting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to be quarantined as a precautionary measure.
Throughout Iran, there are more than 9,000 individuals who have tested positive for coronavirus; 354 have died, reports say. Satellite photos first obtained by The New York Times show that, since coronavirus has hit the country, Iranian officials have ordered mass graves dug totaling 100 yards in length.
The Iranian government has blamed the coronavirus outbreak on Zionists, alleging that “Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran,” according to the Post.