Pompeo blasts China, Iran for response to virus outbreak

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday hit out at China and Iran for ir response to outbreak of coronavirus, accusing two governments of censorship and of trying to cover up severity of spre of dely illness.

Pompeo assailed Beijing for expelling three Wall Street Journal reporters and said a free press was needed to ensure accurate information about virus is available to public and medical personnel. He also said Iranian authorities must “tell truth” about virus amid signs outbreak re may be far wider than officially ackwledged.

“Expelling our journalists exposes once again government's issue that led to SARS and w coronavirus, namely censorship. It can have dely consequences,” Pompeo said of China.

“H China permitted its own and foreign journalists and medical personnel to speak and investigate freely, Chinese officials and or nations would have been far better prepared to dress challenge,” he told reporters at a State Department news conference.

On Iran, which w has second highest number of infections after China and where officials said earlier Tuesday that he of country's counter-coronavirus task force tested positive for virus, Pompeo said U.S. is “deeply concerned" that government “may have suppressed vital details about outbreak.”

"All nations, including Iran, should tell truth about coronavirus and cooperate with international aid organizations," he said.

virus that originated in China has w infected more than 80,000 people and killed more than 2,500, mostly in China.