“I definitely wear a mask in meetings, but I see that some of the officials are not using masks. When you are one of the officials and you don’t wear a mask in assemblies or in the public, this negativity affects people’s behavior. They become encouraged to not wear masks either,” Khamenei said in a statement on Twitter.

Iranian government made masks mandatory at all indoor gatherings from July 5 until July 22 in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic, which has so far claimed at least 10,958 lives in the country.

ILKHA