Iran hiding behind coronavirus to step up its attacks: Envoy

Washington

Bahraini Ambassador to the United States, Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa, has warned that Iran is hiding behind the tragedy of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to step up its attacks around the world. He indicated that “citizens of the world and the global media are fixated on the new coronavirus and they should be. Millions of people are at risk. Priority must be given to disseminating reliable information about the threat.” “But the virus frenzy has obscured other news, which has provided a dangerous opening for some of the planet’s nefarious actors who are wreaking havoc with little notice and few consequences. This has been especially true for Iran, the biggest state sponsor of terrorism.

For example, not many people noticed that on Feb. 23 Arab Coalition forces managed to foil an imminent terrorist attack, which was clearly concocted by Iranian operators. In this case, an unmanned boat filled with explosives was destroyed by coalition-allied forces in Yemen,” the ambassador said in an opinion article published by the “Washington Times” on Tuesday, March 17. Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid added that “the month of March has been even more packed with deadly, Iran-influenced incidents that would have made international headlines if they weren’t obscured by the pandemic. On March 11, Iranian proxy group Kata’eb Hezbollah conducted a rocket attack on an American military base in Iraq that left two Americans and one British soldier dead. The United States responded with airstrikes as it should have, but neither the initial attack nor the retaliation was much remarked on in the news.”

“The United States and many Western governments have long labelled the regime in Iran a dangerous terrorist. Iran’s actions in just the last two months are proof of that accusation. But the diversion created by the coronavirus has allowed Iran’s probing actions to be relegated to minor mentions online,” he said, noting that “Iran might well have taken its actions under the cover of a pandemic on purpose. It certainly knew from its own experience that the coronavirus was grabbing all the airtime in the media. The reason: The Iranian regime has been struggling to contain what might be the most severe spread of the virus.” Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid emphasised that “the official numbers of coronavirus victims claimed by the Iranian government are considered far lower than the actual amount, according to experts. But the situation there is probably dire. The Washington Post published satellite photos of what looked like mass-grave trenches being dug in Iran to accommodate the many people who have died due to the disease.”