Iran’s leaders on Friday announced 149 more fatalities from the new coronavirus, bringing its death toll to 1,433 amid nearly 20,000 confirmed cases.
Iran is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East, and has been widely criticised for its slow response. The country’s leaders struck an upbeat tone earlier Friday, issuing messages in honor of the Persian new year in which they vowed to overcome the pandemic.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, called the new year “the year of leaps in production” in Iran’s economy, which has been under heavy US sanctions since President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord.