Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has blasted US President Donald Trump and his administration as "the worst liars", claiming that they have obscured the true scale of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States. Nasrallah namely accused Trump's team of downplaying the coronavirus threat and deliberately lowering the numbers of those infected in their reports amid "a battle that resembles a world war".
The leader of Hezbollah called on Washington to change its approach and embrace transparency in its reporting about the outbreak. He brought up the Lebanese authorities as an example of proper transparent reporting and added that his movement would divert its resources to help the government fight the virus in the country.
Separately, Nasrallah criticised the US approach to "helping" Iran deal with the rampant COVID-19 outbreak, arguing that Tehran currently does not need American assistance, but for sanctions to be lifted. Previously, Iranian authorities also called on Washington to remove sanctions in order to allow the country to buy proper medicine to cope with the infection.
National Emergency
The ongoing spread of COVID-19 in the US, which has already infected over 1,600 people and killed 41, led President Donald Trump to declare a state of national emergency, ordering the creation of special centres to fight the pandemic across the country. He also said that no recourses would be spared to stop the COVID-19 outbreak and pledged to devote $50 billion in funding for this purpose.
Trump's plan also suggests providing aid to American companies to help them overcome the losses sustained due to the pandemic, as well as freezing the interest on student loans for an indefinite period of time.