An Iranian woman wears a face mask following the coronavirus outbreak, Tehran, Iran, March 5, 2020. (WANA/Nazanin Tabatabaee/Reuters)

Iran’s death toll from coronavirus is likely 80 percent higher than previously acknowledged, and the country’s infection rate could be eight to ten times higher than what the government has confirmed, according to an Iranian parliament report released Wednesday.

The report, written and compiled by experts for the parliament’s research arm, states that coronavirus deaths in Iran could be as high as 8,500, compared to the 4,700 confirmed as of Wednesday. The total number of infections could reach 760,000 in total, far higher than the 76,000 cases confirmed by Iran’s government.


Iran has been accused of downplaying the extent of the outbreak in the country, and even Iranian lawmakers have spoken out publicly against the regime’s handling of the crisis. The parliamentary report released Wednesday also accused government officials of refusing to provide “detailed figures” to more clearly determine the extent of the outbreak.

“The real figures are more than the official statistics but it is not correct to multiply official figures by two or three,” Deputy Health Minister Ali Reza Raisi said in response to the report. Parliament member Reza Shiran of the city of Mashhad said last week that there has “been no correct reporting on the death toll.”

The coronavirus pandemic reached Iran amid heightened tensions with the U.S. and its Middle Eastern allies, after President Trump ordered the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in early January. Iran-backed militias have continued to attack American forces in Iraq. But, after militias killed two American service members in early March, Trump decided against an aggressive response, reportedly believing a strike on Iran would look bad in the midst of the pandemic.

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