Iran’s leadership falls prey to coronavirus
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Iran’s leadership has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus, as the Islamic Republic predicts that 40% of residents in its capital of Tehran will be infected by the spreading virus within two weeks.
Friday prayers across major Iranian cities, and all prayers across the nation last Friday, were canceled or limited as the government indefinitely postponed open parliamentary sessions.
Major figures of the Iranian hostage crisis Hossein Shekholeslam, an English-speaking Iranian student who interrogated the 52 U.S. diplomats taken captive at the U.S. Embassy in 1979, and Muhammad Hajj Abulqasmi, commander of the Basij militia in Tehran known as the “butcher of Tehran” for his work in suppressing domestic resistance to the regime, both died of the virus on Thursday.
Of Iran’s 290-member “Majlis” or parliament, 23 lawmakers have contracted the coronavirus, including the deputy health minister and one vice president, comprising 8% of its government leadership.
Iran is number nine on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List for the persecution of Christians, though it has a flourishing house church movement, with the number of secret believers having nearly doubled since 2016, according to the watchdog group.