ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Thousands of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers and their supporters took part in a mourning ceremony for a senior commander in Tehran on Monday in defiance of government advice to refrain from holding mass gatherings.
Iran has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Middle East, with more than 1,900 dead and almost 25,000 people infected as of Tuesday, according to the health ministry.
The IRGC has repeatedly said it is at the forefront of fighting the virus alongside the government and the regular army. However, Monday’s mass funeral has raised serious concerns about the Guards’ commitment to fighting the pandemic.
Hossein Assadollahi, a senior IRGC commander who was once responsible for maintaining order in Tehran, died on March 21 after a long battle with health complaints caused by chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980s.
It is not clear whether he was a victim of the coronavirus, which attacks the respiratory system.
Thousands of officers and their supporters attended the funeral in western Tehran on Monday and held a long procession through the city streets, according to photos circulating by pro-IRGC media.
The funeral has caused outrage at the health ministry.
“The pictures speak for themselves. We can only cry,” health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpour tweeted Monday. “Perhaps this is a new medical protocol for funerals and new restrictions for mass gatherings,” it added sarcastically.
Although President Hassan Rouhani’s government has ruled out the possibility of placing Iranian cities on lockdown, or applying stringent measures to restrict free movement, health ministry officials are calling on the public to stay at home and avoid all mass gatherings, including funerals.
Iranian authorities have struggled to convince the population to stay at home during the country’s most important holiday season – Persian New Year, also known as Newroz.
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent revealed on Monday that some 8.5 million people defied official advice during the Newroz holiday and traveled for the festivities.
IRGC spokesperson Ramazan Sharif shot back at the health ministry, arguing the mass funeral procession had been unplanned and spontaneous.
“The IRGC had no plan to hold a funeral for commander Assadollahi… the presence of a small number of people, his comrades and his supporters … was spontaneous,” he claimed.
Assadolahi was a senior Guard commander who once headed the 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division responsible for maintaining order in Tehran. He played a role in the IRGC’s Quds Force operations outside the country, according to Tasnim, the main mouthpiece of the IRGC.
The funeral divided opinion on social media.
“Holding this funeral for the commander of IRGC at a time that people are burying their loved ones in a strange and lonely way, more than playing with people’s lives, is a big discrimination parade,” tweeted one Iranian by the name of Vahid Ashtari.
Others argued precautions had been taken and that Assadolahi was owed the honor of a mess funeral.
“It is expected of you to do your research before providing food for the foreign media, the local officials… were present in the funeral and all the health precautions have been taken,” Sayyid Mahmood Razavi tweeted. “We need to think why the spokesperson of the health ministry questions the local funeral of a people’s martyr.
