Diplomat Hammers Dubowitz for Joy over Virus-Related Harms to Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi took a swipe at director of the so-called Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Mark Dubowitz, for expressing delight at the harms that the outbreak of a novel coronavirus has caused in Iran.
In a post on his Twitter account, Araqchi denounced Dubowitz’ “shameful” expression of delight over the damages that COVID-19 has caused to Iran’s economy.
“It’s shameful and downright inhuman to cheer for a deadly Virus to spread – and enjoy seeing people suffer for it, but at least @mdubowitz understands that the American economic sanctions were not — and will not be— as effective as a Covid-19 Virus,” Araqchi said.
His comment came after Dubowitz, the CEO of the hawkish American think tank, expressed delight over the economic harms done by the coronavirus in Iran.
“Coronavirus has done what American economic sanctions could not: shut down non-oil exports,” Dubowitz said in a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
He has also attached a link to his post citing a Bloomberg op-ed article, entitled ‘Coronavirus Will Hammer Iran’s Economy’.
In August 2019, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had added the FDD and its director to the sanctions list of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According to Iran’s Health Ministry, the number of people who have died from the new coronavirus in the country has risen to 19 and the total number of confirmed cases to 139.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the virus epidemic is being controlled and will be contained within two or three weeks.
