The despotic theocratic regime in Iran, unsurprisingly, is blaming America and the Jews for the coronavirus outbreak in Iran that has now claimed the life of the former Iranian ambassador to Syria as well as an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

The Jerusalem Post reports, “Over the last several days, Iran has pushed several reports claiming that ‘Zionists’ were behind the coronavirus. Press TV also quoted the same website that was at the center of an antisemitic article from 2017 that claimed “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.”

The Post added, “On March 5, Press TV claimed that ‘Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran.’ Although the report claimed to reference a foreign ‘academic,’ it fits the pattern of Iran using foreign experts to give the regime’s own views a patina of authority.

The leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, has claimed the virus was “biological warfare” that came from the United States, asserting on March 5, “We are now dealing with a biological war,” and that it “may be the product of American biological warfare.” The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was named a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration in April 2019. President Trump stated:

Today, I am formally announcing my Administration’s plan to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft. The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign.

On Sunday, Press TV linked to the claim that the U.S. is waging “biological warfare,” and cited an article blaming Israel, claiming a “former CIA officer” stated “the US and Israel are working together.”

As The Daily Wire reported on March 2, some Iranians reportedly defied conventional wisdom regarding the coronavirus and deliberately licked Islamic shrines believed to be infected with coronavirus to prove that they were not afraid of the epidemic, some even declaring that they hope they are infected.

The Middle East Media Research Institute reported, “Iranians have posted several videos on social media, featuring devout Shiites licking holy shrines in defiance of the coronavirus. In some of the videos, worshippers say they are licking the shrines in order to infect themselves, thus protecting future pilgrims to the shrines from contracting the virus. On March 1, 2020, a pilgrim posted a video of himself licking the steel bars protecting the window of a Shiite shrine.”

One man stated, “If there are diseases or microbes there, let them enter our bodies and the bodies of our children, so that nothing happens to the pilgrims visiting Imam Reza.”

Bloomberg reported on March 7, “The number of cases jumped more than 20% to 5,823, a health ministry spokesman said Saturday on state television. There were 21 additional deaths, bringing the total to 145 — third highest in the world.”