The hoarding of the medical supplies is now punishable by death, state-affiliated media Press TVreported Iran's prosecutor-general, Mohammad Ja’far Montazeri declare.

Speaking on Mar. 1, Montazeri stated that any attempt to disrupt the supply of much-needed medication and other healthcare items will be treated as equivalent to "spreading corruption on Earth", a crime that also carries the maximum punishment of the death sentence in Iran.

His office will now fast-track any cases involving hoarding, as well as other disruptive behaviours identified by the country's health ministry.

Al-Monitor reported that he was echoed by Iran's head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, who said prosecutors across the country should “show no mercy to those hoarding medical supplies and medicine.”

Iran has over 1,500 Covid-19 cases

The move comes as Iran is seeing over 1,500 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), with 66 dead, according to official figures, Financial Times reported.

Al-Monitor further highlighted that Montazeri's statement was made after the intelligence agents of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps discovered a storage unit containing masks, gloves and other medical equipment worth up to US$2 million in the Iranian capital of Tehran,

Meanwhile, Iran's Chief of Staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, has also requested that the country's intelligence ministry crack down on the hoarding and price hiking of medical supplies.

The health ministry has had to buy face masks off the black market

Separately, Iran's Health Minister, Saeed Namaki, was further quoted by Al Arabiya as stating that the Health Ministry had only received one million out of 200 million face masks ordered thus far.

He added that the rest were being sold on the black market, with the Health Ministry forced to purchase masks from the black market at exorbitant prices

FT further reported that public trust in the Iranian government has plummeted amidst the surge in cases.

While the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard has since been deployed to set up makeshift hospitals, with an additional 8,000 beds, medical staff fear that the belated response has enabled the unchecked spread of the virus.

Top photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images