In a March 22, 2020 speech broadcast live on Iranian television, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reiterated that the U.S. created the coronavirus and is spreading it worldwide, and explained to the public that "demons are assisting the enemies." Iranian news agencies omitted this quote from their reporting on the speech.
Following criticism of this omission by the news agencies, the Telegram channel of the Cyber Division of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) posted, on March 22, a full video of Khamenei's statements. As support for his assertions about the demons, the Cyber Division also posted two video clips showing two seminary lecturers who are well-known in regime-affiliated ideological circles, Ali Akbar Raefi-Pour and Hojatoleslam Valiollah Naghi-Pour, claiming that Israeli and American espionage agencies are using "demons" to carry out intelligence operations against Iran and against the resistance organizations affiliated with Iran.
Associates of Khamenei have previously accused Jews of using sorcery. Mehdi Taeb, head of the Ammar Headquarters think tank that advises Khamenei and a close Khamenei associate, said in 2013 that the Jews' sorcery is the most powerful in the world and that they are using it to attack Iran. Also in 2013, the Rasanews website, which is associated with the seminaries in the city of Qom, published an article arguing that the Jews hand down their knowledge of sorcery from generation to generation in order to use it to control the world, nature, and even God's decisions (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5288, Iranian Official: The Jews Use Sorcery Against Iran, April 28, 2013).
In Islamic and Iranian folklore, the world's sentient beings are divided into ins (mankind) and jinn (demons). Jinns, which are mentioned in the Quran, are supernatural beings with free will, and can be either good or evil; evil jinns can lead humans astray. According to Shi'ite tradition, when the Mahdi, the Hidden Imam, is revealed, he will bring all the jinns under his command.
The following are the main points of the statements by Khamenei and the statements by the two lecturers claiming that Jews and Israeli espionage organizations are using witchcraft against Iran:
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: "There Are Enemies Who Are Demons, And There Are Enemies Who Are Humans, And They Help One Another"
In his March 22 speech, Khamenei reiterated his accusation that the U.S. had created and spread the coronavirus across the world, explaining that "demons are assisting the enemies." He said: "...There are enemies who are demons and there are enemies who are humans, and they help one another. The intelligence services of many countries cooperate with one another against us... Today, our most evil enemy – the enemy of the Islamic Republic [of Iran] – is America."
View excerpts of Khamenei's speech on MEMRI TV here or below:
IRGC Cyber Division Telegram Channel Posts Support For Khamenei's Assertions
On March 22, the IRGC Cyber Division published a video of Khamenei's statements, captioned "The Supreme Leader's Important Hint Regarding The Western-Hebrew Spy Apparatuses' Use Of Infidel Demons To Strike Iran," along with clips of statements by the two lecturers.
To read the full report click here.
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