Tasnim – The commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are donating 20 percent of their salaries to coronavirus relief efforts, a spokesman said.

IRGC Spokesperson General Ramezan Sharif announced on Sunday that the IRGC commanders have taken part in a countrywide exercise launched by Basij, codenamed “devout help”, after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed the need for helping the needy ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.

Sharif said all IRGC commanders have decided to donate 20 percent of their salaries to the people who have lost their jobs due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The donation of 20% percent of the monthly incomes will continue until the coronavirus crisis ends in Iran, the spokesman noted.

The spokesperson for the Iranian administration, Ali Rabiee, has warned that a long-term shutdown of businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak and the government’s non-intervention in the labor market policies could result in the unemployment of more than 4 million people in the country.

According to Rabiee, the outbreak of COVID-19 has directly harmed the activities of around 3.3 million official workforces and caused the closure of more than 1.5 million official and unofficial workshops across the country.