Iran accuses US of fear-mongering as virus spreads

TEHRAN: Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of fear-mongering over a coronavirus outbreak that has spread across the Islamic republic and claimed 19 lives among 139 cases.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the situation was "improving" even as he called on Iranians to refrain from travel and announced infections in six new provinces. The Islamic republic is scrambling to contain COVID-19 a week after announcing the first two deaths in Qom, a centre for Islamic studies that draws pilgrims and scholars from abroad.

Schools, universities and cultural centres have been closed, sporting events cancelled, and teams of sanitary workers deployed to disinfect buses, trains and public spaces. President Hassan Rouhani took aim on Wednesday at Iran’s arch foe the United States for spreading "fear" over the outbreak -- the deadliest for any country other than China.

"We shouldn’t let America mount a new virus on top of coronavirus that is called ... extreme fear," he told a weekly cabinet meeting. The Americans "themselves are struggling with coronavirus," he said, adding that "16,000 people have died of influenza there but they don’t talk about their own (dead)".

Rouhani’s remarks came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of concealing the full extent of the outbreak. "The United States is deeply concerned by information indicating the Iranian regime may have suppressed vital details about the outbreak," Pompeo told reporters in Washington.