Ministry of Health: Sending Medical Equipment to Other Countries is a Rumor
The Ministry of Health called the sending of medical equipment to combat coronavirus to other countries a rumor. A university affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Basij student organization announced that they have donated test kits and medical equipment to the American people.
Kianosh Jahanpour, head of the Ministry of Health’s media center, called the sending of medical equipment and supplies to other countries a “rumor” and said that Iran currently needs these protective items against coronavirus more than any other country.
Referring to the fact that the Ministry of Health “formally and in cash” purchases all products or imports related to these equipment and supplies, he added: “Formally, these items have not been sent to any country, and we have imported these items from every possible route and will continue to do so.”
This is the reaction of the Ministry of Health’s media center director to news that was published in the past 24 hours on some websites and news agencies affiliated with principalists and close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. However, Jahanpour did not clearly specify what was meant by not sending “formally.” Is he implicitly confirming the university’s claimed action of sending aid to America?
The Young Journalists Network affiliated with Iran’s state radio and television, on April 1, in a short news report, citing Hadi Zahiri, the public relations officer of Baqiallah University of Medical Sciences, which is under the supervision of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported on the “donation of Iranian-made test kits” to America.
Zahiri had said: “We are enemies with the American government, not its people, and the kits were handed over to the Swiss embassy.”
Some social media users had both opposing and supporting reactions to this news.
Earlier, the head of the Basij student organization had also said that Basij students have prepared a shipment of health items of their own make and production to donate to the “oppressed people of America.”
According to Mohammad Javad Nikroush, this shipment will be handed over to the office of the Swiss embassy protecting American interests in Tehran.
He claimed that Basij forces are ready to “help Americans who today cannot meet their basic needs.”
At this point, no report has been published by the Swiss embassy authorities in Tehran, as the protector of American interests in Iran, indicating receipt of these shipments.
In recent days, Mostafa Mirsalim, a principalist figure from the Islamic Coalition Party and a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, also wrote on Twitter: “We express sympathy with the oppressed people of America who have been hit by the coronavirus crisis due to lack of resources, but it is unfortunate that the unjust sanctions of the vengeful American government prevent us from providing aid.”
Many principalist websites and news agencies close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran have covered these topics in recent days. Reactions from users on social networks such as Twitter have also been varied.
The spokesperson of the Corona Response Headquarters at the Ministry of Health, in his statement today, without referring to the publication of these reports on these websites and news agencies, only referred to the “virtual space” and evaluated the content of sending medical aid as incorrect and “creating propaganda against the country.”
Jahanpour considered the possibility of transferring these medical equipment and items “in light of the limitations of flights and ships and ground transportation” impossible, and said that this could only be done through “smuggling methods” and “trafficking out of the country,” which is also considered a violation and subject to prosecution.
According to Jahanpour, Iran’s aid to other countries is possible only when domestic needs regarding COVID-19 are met and all countries accept their shared responsibility to support and help each other.
Source: DW
