Iran's supreme leader is trying to spin coronavirus as a good thing

Iran's supreme leader just lost one of his top advisers to the coronavirus, but he's apparently not bothered.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's adviser Mohammad Mirmohammadi's death was reported Monday after he contracted the virus that's becoming particularly deadly in Iran. A full tenth of Iran's parliament has also tested positive for the disease, BuzzFeed News reports via state television, but in a series of tweets on Tuesday, Khamenei said the virus was "not such a big tragedy" at all.

In his message, Khamenei insisted the COVIS-19 virus "is not such a big tragedy and this country has overcome graver ones." "I don't want to say it's unimportant, but let's not exaggerate it either," Khamenei continued. The virus "will leave" but "the experience it brings" for the government and people of Iran "will remain as an achievement," Khamenei insisted.

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Iran has reported 77 deaths and 2,336 infections from the virus. That number includes 23 Iranian MPs and some other government officials.