(March 26, 2020 / MEMRI) The Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights said during a recent television interview America’s behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that it truly is the “Great Satan,” and that Europeans that speak of human rights should be ashamed of obeying America’s “oppressive” policies.

In a March 18 interview with Iran’s Channel 1, Ali Bagheri Kani, who served as deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council from 2007 to 2013, said that countries that refuse to cooperate with Iran regarding the pandemic are responsible for spreading it all over the world. He mocked an unnamed European country for sending Iran aid in the form of 100 pairs of boots, saying, “This is the kind of creatures that they are.”

“There isn’t much I can say about America,” said Kani. “America is, indeed, the Great Satan, and its past and its future are clear, especially at a time like this when they become evident to everybody. The Europeans who talk about human rights should really feel a little bit ashamed of themselves for obeying the oppressive policy of the Americans. When everybody is dealing with this thing—with the coronavirus—they [the Americans] do not stop doing their illegal and inhumane thing.

“I need to add one thing: Countries that do not cooperate with Iran with regard to the coronavirus are responsible for its spreading all over the world. After all, corona is a disease that infects and spreads. If we cannot lock down a certain place, it will spread from there to the whole world.”