TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- An Iranian student of journalism says the U.S.-based social media platform Instagram has closed his account because he published a post that expressed hope about Iran’s efforts to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Iran.
Meysam Saeedi, a student of journalism at the university of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), had published a picture of himself, medical staff, and other coronavirus patients at a hospital ward making victory signs and looking strong with hope after being admitted to hospital himself for a coronavirus infection.
"Instagram closed my account for no reason!” Saeedi wrote. "No [mention of] Haj Qassem or anything else! They only seek to stifle hope in the Iranian nation! But we will combat the #coronavirus with hope and will prevail.”
Saeedi was referring to  General Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who was assassinated on the direct order of U.S. President Donald Trump in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad early last month.
After the assassination, Instagram either deleted the accounts of many Iranians who had been using the social networking service to honor the charismatic general, or eliminated relevant content posted by them.
Even before the U.S.’s assassination of Gen. Soleimani, the American photo- and video-sharing platform had blocked the pages associated with the Quds Force’s popular commander after Washington’s blacklisting of the elite military force.
An American political analyst said Thursday the United States must withdraw sanctions against Iran so it can import the needed medicines and medical equipment to combat the coronavirus.
"The Western media continues to be intellectually dishonest with regard to the coronavirus and its spreading infections within the Middle East, as our Western governments and their Islamophobia and racist and anti Iranian policies,” said Rodney Martin, a former congressional staffer based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"While Iran has taken impressive steps in regards to transparency and disclosing to the world, the number of cases of coronavirus in Iran and taking preventive steps via its public health system and medical facilities,” he told Press TV.

"There have been no reported cases by the Turkish government or by the UAE both of which are major international flight hubs to and from China. Now, this is intellectually dishonest. It is not credible to think that the two major international flight hubs in the Middle East and Turkey and the UAE have not reported any infections of the coronavirus,” he said.
"In the meantime, Western media is silent on this huge discrepancy, while at the same time engaging in their drumbeat of Islamophobia and anti-Iranian sentiment. The world should condemn the UAE and Turkey for its fake approach, and lack of preventative measures and lack of transparency with regard to the coronavirus, and the world should commend Iran for having been transparent on the international stage and reporting the number of cases and for addressing the issue medically,” he stated.
"This is also a stronger case for the world to condemn and withdraw international sanctions against Iran so it can begin importation of needed medicines and medical equipment to combat this pandemic,” he noted.
The United States Treasury Department claimed Thursday that it had granted a license to allow for certain humanitarian trade transactions with Iran’s sanctioned central bank.