TEHRAN-(MaraviPost)-An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Seyyed Mohammad Mirmohammadi, has died after contracting the deadly Coronavirus.
The member of a council that advises Iran’s supreme leader has died on Monday, 2 March 2020 after falling sick from the new coronavirus, becoming the first top official to die from the virus that has recently claimed 66 lives among 1,501 confirmed cases in the country.
As reported by state radio, Mirmohammadi, 71 has died at a north Tehran hospital after being admitted days after contracting the virus. His mother had died of the coronavirus in recent days.
As reported by Times news, the Expediency Council was the adviser to the supreme leader before his demise, as well as settled disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog that also oversaw the country’s elections. The 45-member council, which also includes former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and officials close to Khamenei, last met in February with Mirmohammadi on hand.
Mirmohammadi’s death comes as other top officials have contracted the virus in Iran.
Those confirmed cases among officials include Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, better known as “Sister Mary,” the English-speaking spokeswoman for the students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and sparked the 444-day hostage crisis, state media reported.
Also sick is Iraj Harirchi, the head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who tried to downplay the virus before falling ill.
Iran has the highest death toll in the world after China, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Health Ministry spokesman Ali Reza Raisi, who gave the new figures for the virus Monday, said that Iran’s armed forces and its Basij, the all-volunteer arm of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, stood ready to mobilize 300,000 troops to help combat the virus. Already, Guard vehicles have been spraying disinfectant on streets in major cities.
Those troops would help sanitizing public areas, as well as running down leads on who infected people had contacted before falling ill, Raisi said.
Trying to stem the outbreak of the new coronavirus, Iran also on Monday held an online-only briefing by its Foreign Ministry. China as well has held similar teleconference briefings.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi opened the online news conference addressing the outbreak, dismissing an offer of help for Iran by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
On Friday, it was announced that Iran’s first-ever ambassador to the Vatican, Hadi Khosroshahi, had died of coronavirus at the age of 81.
Last Monday, World Health Organization (WHO) said the situation in Iran is “deeply concerning” and the country has been recently criticized for its efforts to combat the outbreak.
