Another high-ranking official in Iran has died from the coronavirus, according to state media.
Hossein Sheikholeslam, 68, the former Iranian ambassador to Syria, studied at the University of California at Berkeley before becoming a leader of the radical Iranian students who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 American diplomats captive during the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.
He reportedly died late Thursday, two days after testing positive for the virus and shortly after it was announced he was recovering, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, which called him a “veteran and revolutionary diplomat.”
Sheikholeslam, the sixth politician or government official to be killed by the virus in Iran, was currently serving as an aide to Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who called the U.S. strike on Iran’s top military leader, Qassem Soleimani, “an act of terror” and recently met with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., at a security conference in Germany.
Iran rejected the Trump administration’s offer to help with the coronavirus outbreak as the Islamic republic warns it may use “force” to enforce a travel ban between cities. The Iranian death toll reached 124 with 4,747 cases across the country. – READ MORE
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