TEHRAN- Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi pointed to the need to increase the country’s power in biological defense.

“Boosting biological power is necessary given the current situation,” he said on Monday in a meeting with top officials of the Judiciary.

Raisi also praised the decision to free near 84,000 prisoners as a precaution to the outbreak.

His remarks come as some believe the COVID-19 outbreak in the country can be a form of biological warfare against countries such as Iran and China.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Armed Forces to establish a special base to fight the outbreak in the country on Thursday. “Since there is speculation that this incident might be a ‘biological attack’, this measure could be also some form of biological defense drill, which would add to national power and strength [of the country],” the leader said.

Also, Head of Iran's Passive Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali said last week that “of course one cannot say for sure that it is a biological war but in fact, it has many features of a biological war,” while noting that further investigation is needed.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Army has started nationwide biological defense drills to increase readiness and boost efforts to contain the disease.

COVID-19 has so far infected over 171,000 individuals in more than 162 countries worldwide, causing 6,686 deaths and inflicting huge economic losses. Iran is one of the hard-hit countries with about 15,000 infections and 853 deaths as of Monday.