Iran Reports Over 2,100 New Virus Cases

Iran on Tuesday reported no new coronavirus deaths in nearly a third of its provinces for 24 hours but said there were more than another 2,100 cases of infection nationwide.

The virus spread rapidly to all 31 of Iran's provinces soon after the country's first cases—two deaths in the holy city of Qom—were announced three months ago. 

"Ten provinces have reported zero deaths in the past 24 hours and six others only one," said health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour.

The southwestern province of Khuzestan was still classified as "red"—the highest level on the country's color-coded risk scale, he said.

But the situation was "stable" in most other provinces, Jahanpour told a televised news conference.

Khuzestan was currently the only province still classified as red, he added.

The official had warned in previous days of a deteriorating situation in the provinces of Lorestan, North Khorasan, Kerman, Sistan and Baluchistan and Kermanshah.

On Tuesday, he said 62 fatalities in the past 24 hours had taken the overall death toll in the country's outbreak to 7,199.

Another 2,111 new infections were confirmed over the same period, he said, raising the total caseload to 124,603.

More than 97,170 of those hospitalized with the virus had recovered and been discharged, he added.

Experts both at home and abroad have voiced skepticism about Iran's official figures, saying the real toll could be much higher.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Reports 2,102 New Virus Cases, Highest in Over Month

By Amir Havasi

Iran on Friday reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections in more than a month as it warned of clusters hitting new regions.

Iran has struggled to contain the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease since its first cases emerged in mid-February.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 2,102 new cases were confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall total to 116,635.

That figure is the highest Iran has announced for a single day since April 6.

Jahanpour said the virus had claimed another 48 lives over the same period, raising the overall death toll to 6,902.

The southwestern province of Khuzestan remained "red"—the top level of Iran's color-coded risk scale.

Several more provinces could be added to that level of alert, he said.

"Other provinces that we may see rising infections in are Lorestan, Sistan and Baluchistan, and East Azerbaijan," Jahanpour said in televised remarks.

The spokesman issued what he called a "warning" to residents of the provinces to observe health protocols.

Lorestan lies in western Iran, East Azerbaijan in the northwest, and Sistan and Baluchistan in the southeast bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Schools to Reopen Partially

Jahanpour had said on Thursday that North Khorasan province in the northeast may also be close to "critical condition".

Khuzestan is the only province so far where authorities have reimposed stringent measures like shutting businesses after a countrywide relaxation in April.

Iran stopped publishing provincial figures for the coronavirus last month.

A spokesman for the province's virus taskforce, Reza Nejati, said Thursday schools would not reopen in Khuzestan later this week, ISNA news agency reported.

Iran closed schools in early March along with universities and public places including cinemas to contain the virus.

But it announced last week that schools would partially reopen as of Saturday with only teachers present as students' attendance is not mandatory.

The government also reopened mosques on Wednesday for three nights so that worshippers can pray during one of the holiest times of the year for Muslims.

The reopening was granted for Laylat al-Qadr—a high point during the fasting month of Ramadan that marks when the Koran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed.

Of those hospitalised with COVID-19 nationwide since the first cases announced in the Shiite holy city of Qom on February 19, 91,836 have recovered and been discharged, according to the health ministry.

Experts both at home and abroad have voiced skepticism about Iran's official figures, saying the real toll could be much higher.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says Oil Field Found With 53bn Barrels of Crude

By Amir Havasi

Iran has discovered a massive new oil field, President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday, a find that would boost its proven reserves by about a third in a rare piece of "good news" for an economy battered by US sanctions.

In a speech aired on state TV, Rouhani said the country's economy had stabilised despite punishing US measures against its senior leaders, banking and finance sectors.

The vast field in the southwestern province of Khuzestan holds an estimated 53 billion barrels of crude, he said.

The 80-meter deep reservoir stretches nearly 200 kilometres from Khuzestan's border with Iraq to the city of Omidiyeh.

"This is a small gift by the government to the people of Iran," he said in a speech from the central city of Yazd.

"We announce to America today that we are a rich nation, and despite your enmity and cruel sanctions, Iranian oil industry workers and engineers discovered this great oil field."

The find would add around 34 percent to the OPEC member's current proven reserves, estimated by energy giant BP at 155.6 billion barrels.

Iran, a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, sits on what were already the world's fourth-biggest oil reserves.

The new reserves, if proven, would lift it to third place, just before regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia.

'Unconventional' Sales

But it remains to be seen how much the country can benefit from the new field.

Iran has struggled to sell its oil since US President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal last year and reimposed unilateral sanctions.

In May, Washington ended temporary sanctions waivers it had granted to the eight main buyers of Iranian oil, ratcheting up the pressure on holdouts China, India and Turkey to find other suppliers.

Tehran does not report exact figures, but says some crude is still exported via "unconventional" means.

It has hit back at the US with a series of countermeasures, stepping up its nuclear activities and threatening to go further unless the deal's promised economic benefits materialise.

It insists its moves are transparent and easily reversible, calling on the deal's other parties to honor their commitments.

The remaining parties to the 2015 accord—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—have been working on measures to help it avoid US sanctions, but with few results so far.

Since the US withdrawal, tensions have cranked up in the Gulf with a series of mysterious attacks on tankers and Saudi oil installations, with Tehran and Washington narrowly avoiding an armed confrontation after the downing of a US drone over Iranian territory.

Economic 'Disruptors'

Iran has experienced a sharp economic downturn this year, fuelled in part by US sanctions, with a plummeting currency sending inflation skyrocketing and hiking the prices of imports.

But Rouhani insisted the economy had now stabilised.

"Our people weathered hard days in the past year ... (but) I believe America is now hopeless," he said.

The IMF has said Iran's economy will contract by a massive 9.5 percent this year, its worst performance since 1984 when the Islamic republic was at war with neighbouring Iraq, but notes the growth is expected to stabilise at zero next year.

Authorities have cracked down hard on "economic disruptors"—Iranians accused of exploiting shortages and fluctuations in gold and currency prices, with dozens tried and some executed.

"I call on the judiciary... to explain billion-dollar corruption cases to the people," Rouhani said during his speech in Yazd.

"Where has the money gone?"

He pointed to a "$2.7 billion case" whose suspect has been "arrested, sentenced to die and is now in prison"—but in which the money is yet to be recovered.

He appeared to be referring to business magnate Babak Morteza Zanjani, on death row after being convicted in 2016 of embezzling $2.7 billion while helping the government circumvent international sanctions.

Photo: IRNA

Iranians Band Together to Battle Devastating Floods

Sweat rolling down his cheek, Ghasem Arabi filled sandbags to prop-up a makeshift dyke as flood waters surged just metres behind him in Iran's deluge-stricken southwest.

"Our youth are working day and night," said the 37-year-old nurse as he helped shovel sand into plastic sacks held by fellow residents in the agricultural town of Hamidiyeh.

"God willing this flood will not reach their homes... that's all they have left," he said, adding that many had already lost their farmlands to the rising waters.

The oil-rich Khuzestan province and its large Arab minority have been hit by major floods since early April due to heavy rains and floodwater rushing down from the north.

They are the latest in a series of unprecedented floods that have swamped the normally arid country since March 19, killing at least 70 people in 20 of Iran's 31 provinces.

In the absence of adequate resources in place to ease such disasters, people are banding together in towns like Hamidiyeh to battle the overflow.

Most women and children have been evacuated but young men and their fathers have stayed behind to help protect their homes, building barriers and banks to beat back the swelling waters of the Karkheh river.

Arabi works at a hospital in Ahvaz city, the capital of Khuzestan, roughly 30 kilometres (18 miles) southeast of Hamidiyeh.

He was on holiday with his family for the Nowruz Persian New Year holiday when the floods started. He decided to stay and help.

"We need clothes, food, drinking water. Running water and power get cut every night," said Arabi.

His brothers were busy lugging what little furniture and appliances they had up to the roof, hoping to protect them from the tide.

'Critical' Situation

Floodwaters have already swallowed up some houses along the river bank, seeping into the ground floors of others and turning yards into lakes.

The rising waters have submerged kilometres of surrounding flatlands too.

Many of the newly homeless residents have found shelter with neighbours in parts of the town still hoping to control the flood.

Along the bulging river banks, dozens dig up soil and fill sandbags.

The Karkheh's water level has risen dangerously close to the town's sole small bridge. Just a few more metres and the river will only be crossable by boat.

"See that tree? That's where my garden was," said one resident, throwing a stone towards a branch poking out of the water.

At one spot along the bank, more than a dozen men formed a chain from a nearby alley to the water's edge, handing down bags of sand.

The mix of locals, fatigue-clad members of the elite Revolutionary Guards and Muslim clerics wearing black and white robes looked almost jovial—singing revolutionary anthems and upbeat Arabic tunes.

Despite the presence of the Guards, residents said more government help was needed.

"We lack trucks, sandbags... and bulldozers. The situation is very critical," said Abbas Mansouri, a farmer whose house was heavily damaged but was handing out food, tea and cold water to his neighbours.

Two pumps draining water out of homes were donated by the Guards, locals said, and a bulldozer and a truck working nearby belonged to the government, according to their drivers.

"The government has sent us very little help," said one resident, without providing his name.

He said he had not seen any Red Crescent workers or soldiers pitching in to help out.

'My Heart Breaks'

The scale of the disaster and a lack of resources has meant the Red Crescent has been forced to prioritize villages with limited means, aid workers with the group told AFP.

The humanitarian organisation only has six helicopters to cover thousands of square kilometres hit by the floods, according to a Red Crescent flight engineer.

The flooding has caused damages worth IRR 40 trillion in Khuzestan—over USD 280 million at the free market rate—according to an official figure.

Despite oil riches and large agriculture industry, Khuzestan is one of Iran's most underprivileged provinces.

"Agriculture was their life and now it's destroyed," Mostafa Torfi, a 35-year old aid worker, told AFP.

"My heart breaks for the villagers every time I see them ... We are doing all we can for them," he added.

Photo Credit:INRA