TEHRAN — Point a finger at Iran and there will be “three fingers” pointing right back “at you”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi says, responding to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“Only an administration infected with acute mismanagement, deception & lies could be so hideous to level senseless accusations against #Iranian who're sacrificially struggling to shield humanity against #COVID19 pandemic,” Mousavi said via Twitter on Saturday.

“Point a finger & there are 3 more pointing back at you,” he said.

Mousavi attached footage of a House panel over the U.S. response to the coronavirus, in which Pompeo was grilled over the issue.

COVID-19, the formal name for the illness caused by a new coronavirus, emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. More than 100,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide and more than 3,500 people have died as a result of the virus, the majority of whom were in China. 

Pompeo has claimed that the Islamic Republic did not have a solid healthcare infrastructure and said the United States had offered to help with the coronavirus response in Iran.

"We have made offers to the Islamic Republic of Iran to help. And we've made clear to others around the world and in the region that assistance, humanitarian assistance to push back against the coronavirus in Iran is something that the United States of America fully supports. We will continue to support," Pompeo said last week.  

Afterwards, Iran dismissed his claim as “hypocritical”, saying such remarks pursue political purposes and aim to distract the world public opinion.

“The claim on helping Iran fight the coronavirus which has been made by a country that led to extensive pressure on the Iranian people through its economic terrorism and even blocked the way to the purchase of medicine and medical equipment is a ridiculous claim and a political and psychological play,” Mousavi said last week, according to Press TV.

He added that the Iranian Foreign Ministry had been in close contact with many countries in order to supply pharmaceutical and health needs to contain the outbreak of the disease. Iran, he added, has obtained the means of support to that end through certain friendly countries.

The Iranian spokesman emphasized that the fight against the coronavirus, which has turned into a global epidemic and spread to many countries, requires collective determination and broad international cooperation. Mousavi dismissed some politically-motivated moves that seek to take advantage of the patients' condition.

MH/PA