A woman prays at the grave of an unknown soldier who was killed during 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, at the shrine of Saint Saleh in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. .(Vahid Salemi, AP, via usnews.com)
The Iranian government reported a record number of Coronavirus cases for the third day in a row on Thursday, surpassing over 22,000 new cases in a nation of 82 million people. The official number of COVID-19 cases in Iran exceeds 2 million since the beginning of the pandemic last year, while many inside Iran believe the actual number of cases may be vastly underreported. Over 185 deaths as a result of the virus were reported on Thursday, pushing the national total over 63,800.
An FAI Wire source in the Iranian underground church reports that the nation is in another strict lockdown as the Iranian government desperately tries to bring the spread of Coronavirus under control. The regime was widely criticized for its handling of the epidemic last Spring, when the virus spread throughout the nation during a season of national elections and religious pilgrimages without any official acknowledgement, leading Iran to become one of the major sources of COVID-19 outbreaks across the Middle East, and even Europe.
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The surge in Iranian Coronavirus cases comes as the Biden Administration announced agreement with the Iranian regime on a framework to salvage the JCPOA, or Iran Nuclear Deal. After talks in Vienna, the US State Department signaled the administration’s willingness to lift “all sanctions inconsistent with the 2015 deal,” meaning all diplomatic and economic sanctions imposed by the previous Trump administration on Iran between 2016-2020. The spokesman for Iran’s nuclear project placed additional pressure on the Vienna talks, announcing yesterday that his agency has produced over 55 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium so far this year, on the way to an annual goal of 120 kg, bringing Iran closer to the “breakout time” needed to enrich weapons-grade uranium within weeks.
We would ask the global Maranatha family to continue in prayer for the people of Iran, and for the underground churches who are continuing to labor under increasingly restricted conditions inside Iran. We pray that the Lord would provide ways for the churches to continue to minister to their communities in lockdown, especially in an especially dangerous province where outreach has been active. We pay for the Biden Administration and other world leaders in the JCPOA negotiations to be granted wisdom and courage to do what is right regarding the nuclear agreement, including the prevalence of Iran’s ballistic missile program and patronage of radical Shi’a Muslim proxies throughout the Middle East. We pray that the number of cases in Iran would begin to subside, and that the regime’s continued mishandling of the pandemic would be a further catalyst for the Iranian people to seek security, peace and hope elsewhere, opening a “wide, effectual” door for Good News.
Maranatha.
Sources:
Iran Sets Coronavirus Infection Record for 3rd Straight Day | Health News | US News
Iran Covid cases pass two million: health ministry - France 24
COVID cases hit 2 million in Iran 'meteoric' spike (medicalxpress.com)
The Latest: Iran daily record hits 20,000 coronavirus cases (apnews.com)
US Prepared to Lift Sanctions 'Inconsistent' With Iran Nuclear Deal (businessinsider.com)
Iran and U.S. Agree on Path Back to Nuclear Deal - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
