The official coronavirus numbers from Iran show more than 60,000 people infected and nearly 4,000 deaths. As I’ve written previously, there’s good reasons to suspect those numbers may not be accurate. Yesterday a spokesman for Iran’s health ministry suggested that China’s coronavirus data was a “bitter joke.” His comments created a minor international squabble which played out on Twitter:

The spokesman of Iran’s health ministry has said that figures of coronavirus infections and deaths published by China’s government was a “bitter joke”.

Kianush Jahanpur in a video media conference March 5 said, “It seems statistics from China was a bitter joke, because many in the world thought this is just like influenza, with fewer deaths. This [impression] were based on reports from China and now it seems China made a bitter joke with the rest of the world”.

Jahanpur added, “If in China they say an epidemic was controlled in two months, one should really think about it”.

Apparently in response, Iran’s Foreign Ministry put out this tweet echoing China’s PR line and thanking China “in these trying times.”

The Gvt. & ppl. of #China lead the way in suppressing #coronavirus & generously aiding countries across 🌍. The Chinese bravery, dedication & professionalism in COVID19 containment deserve acknowledgment. 🇮🇷 has always been thankful to 🇨🇳 in these trying times. #StrongerTogether

— S.A. MOUSAVI (@SAMOUSAVI9) April 5, 2020

The Chinese Ambassador to Iran retweeted that with a reference to “rumors.”

Rumors cannot destroy our friendship！
شایعات نمی توانند دوستی ما را از بین ببرند！ https://t.co/7QxTiE8FFv

— Chang Hua (@AmbChangHua) April 5, 2020

The spokesman whose comments started all of this didn’t back down. Instead he tweeted that politics and science shouldn’t be mixed. That drew a rebuke from the Chinese ambassador suggesting the doctor needed to pay better attention to daily Chinese press conferences.

The Ministry of Health of China has a press conference every day. I suggest that you read their news carefully in order to draw conclusions

— Chang Hua (@AmbChangHua) April 5, 2020

A few hours later, Dr. Jahanpur was brought into line. In this tweet he expressed his gratitude for nations who stood by Iran:

… و اما، دولت و ملت #ایران قدردان دولتها و ملت هایی است که بویژه در این همه گیری جهانی #كرونا در کنارشان ایستادند و حافظه تاریخی ایرانیان البته این قسمت ماجرا را هم فراموش نخواهد کرد.
حمایت های #چین از ملت ایران در این روزهای سخت، هکذا فراموش ناشدنی است. بیگانگان ذوق زده نشوند.

— Kianush Jahanpur, MD 🇮🇷 (@drjahanpur) April 6, 2020

The Chinese ambassador retweeted that, adding “Friends must help each other, we will fight together.”

دوستان باید به یکدیگر کمک کنند ، ما با هم می جنگیم https://t.co/C2gDotqvwB

— Chang Hua (@AmbChangHua) April 6, 2020

Not everyone was won over by this obvious arm twisting. hundreds of people responded to the Chinese ambassador with messages like this one: “We hate you communists
On behalf of 80% of the Iranian people”

از شما کمونیست ها متنفریم
از طرف ۸۰ درصد مردم ایران pic.twitter.com/mRBRoybcvu

— یوناس (درفرودست انگار)վօղҽʂ (@Yoneskarimi11) April 6, 2020

But China continues to use its muscle and PR savvy to manage the political part of this crisis. So far it seems to be working out pretty well for them despite the weeks of lies that allowed the virus to spread quickly around the world.