United States has called for Iran to release all American prisoners held in the country as the Corona virus outbreak reportedly spreads through its prisons. In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, the United States will hold the Iranian regime directly responsible for any American deaths and US response will be decisive. He said, reports that COVID-19 has spread to Iranian prisons are deeply troubling and demand nothing less than the full and immediate release of all American citizens. Their detention amid increasingly deteriorating conditions defies basic human decency.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman yesterday said, Iran’s response to the deadly Corona virus outbreak, including temporarily releasing 70,000 prisoners, was too little, too late. He said, Tehran was trying to fudge its handling of the outbreak, one of the deadliest outside China, where the disease originated. Mr Rehman told reporters at the UN in Geneva that the situation on Corona virus is highly disturbing within Iran.

Iran yesterday reported 54 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day toll since the start of the outbreak. That brought the numbers killed in the country to 291 out of 8,042 infected.