Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei's adviser dies of coronavirus

People wear masks after deaths and new confirmed cases revealed from the coronavirus in Tehran, Iran on 20 February 2020 [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]

A member of an Iranian council that advises Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei today died after falling ill from the new coronavirus, state radio reported.

The report said Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi died aged 71.

This is the third official to die of the virus in Iran.

Hadi Khasrushahi, former Iranian ambassador to the Vatican and the head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Egypt, one of the most prominent clerics in the city of Qom, died from the virus at the Masih Daneshvari Hospital, local media reported on Thursday.

While on Saturday, newly elected MP from Gilan province, Mohammad Ali Ramazani Dastak, died of the infection after he contracted it days earlier.

Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi was also reported as having coronavirus by the semi-official news agency ILNA on 25 February.

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