Voice of America 07 Mar 2020
A top Iranian military official is giving voice to a conspiracy theory regarding the coronavirus amid an outbreak in the Islamic republic that has killed more than 100 people, including an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, and infected more than 3,500, according to official figures.
Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, suggested Thursday that the coronavirus might be an American biological weapon - contradicting experts who say there's no evidence it could be man-made.
"Today, the country is engaged in a biological battle," Salami was quoted as saying by the semiofficial ISNA news agency. "We will prevail in the fight against this virus, which might be the product of an American biological [attack], which first spread in China and then to the rest of the world."
He added: "America should know that if it has done so, it will return to itself."
He provided no evidence to back his unfounded claim.
Salami also said that Iran would contain the coronavirus outbreak "even if it's not America's work."
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