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Brigadier General Nasser Shabani, a senior commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards, died after being infected with nCoV.
Shabani's death was confirmed today by Iran's semi-official news agency FARS. He is the highest-ranking commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) who died of nCoV infection to date.
General Nasser Shabani of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Photo: IBTimes.
The FARS newsletter did not detail where Shabani had been infected with nCoV and why he did not survive the illness. Iranian media did not indicate Shabani's age, but he started his career in 1982, during the Iran-Iraq war.
General Shabani in 2008 stated in Iranian state media that the IRGC ordered the Houthi forces in Yemen to attack two Saudi oil tankers on the Bab al-Mandeb strait, making him the center of attention of the people. international treatise then.
Ramezan Sharif, a spokesman for IRGC, said on Tuesday that at least five members of the force had died from Covid-19.
Many senior Iranian officials have also been infected with nCoV. Mohammad Mirmohammadi, an advisory board member to Iran's supreme leader, died of Covid-19 on March 2. Hossein Sheikholeslam, former Iranian ambassador to Syria and adviser to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, died on 6 March after being confirmed infected.
Iran is heavily affected by Covid-19, the third largest outbreak in the world, after China and Italy, with the number of cases exceeding 11,000 and at least 514 dead. The government of the Islamic Republic is implementing a series of emergency measures to cope with the epidemic, including canceling mass prayers, limiting travel and releasing thousands of prisoners.
Covid-19 appeared in 145 countries and territories after the onset in Wuhan, China in December 2019, so far has infected more than 145,000 people, more than 5,400 people died.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared Covid-19 a pandemic and urged nations to deal aggressively. Observers fear the lack of medical equipment makes it difficult for Iran to cope with Covid-19, in the context that it is subject to US economic sanctions.
