Leader of the Islamic Revolution hailed nurses for their efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic amid harsh sanctions.
US sanctions have prevented Iran from smoothly obtaining required medicine and medical devices to deal with the virus, forcing the country to mostly resort to its own resources to tackle the problem.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a Sunday meeting with nurses and families of health workers who have died due to Covid-19, Leader.ir reported.
“When nurses, with effort and self-sacrifice, put a smile on the lips of patients and their loved ones, they are in fact struggling against the malicious world of arrogance. This is the double value of the nursing community in the Islamic Iran,” the Leader said.
The coronavirus pandemic, however, “showed that if the nursing community is not strengthened, we will be hit hard,” Ayatollah Khamenei stressed.
Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from US sanctions imposed on Tehran in 2018 after former president Donald Trump walked away from the 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program.
But the US measures, which target all sectors including oil and financial activities, have deterred foreign banks from processing financial transactions with Iran. Tehran says this has frequently disrupted efforts to import essential medicines and other humanitarian items.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the nature of nursing that is observing the suffering of patients and caring for them around the clock is bitter and harsh.
“In some junctures, such as the period of the Sacred Defense [Iran-Iraq war in 80s] or the coronavirus, these difficulties have been multiplied,” he said.
Need to Record Sacrifices
Ayatollah Khamenei said the sacrifices of the Iranian nurses deserve to be recorded through art.
“With regard to narrating the difficulties of the work of nurses, we have a dearth of artistic production. These have artistic themes or in the language of art, they have dramatic themes. They can be used to make attractive art programs. Artists should come to the arena,” he said.
“You should recount the truths of your society, your country and your revolution. If you do not recount them, the enemy will do it. If you do not chronicle the revolution, the enemy will do it. If you do not narrate the incident of the Sacred Defense, the enemy will do it in whatever way it likes, making its own justification to tell lies and change the place of the oppressor and the oppressed.”
The Leader also paid tribute to women, saying they can be “a huge ocean of patience” and the “pinnacle of wisdom and prudence” at the same time.
