The top echelon of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have agreed to take a 20 percent pay cut to help efforts to battle the coronavirus pandemic in Iran, the Middle Eastern country hit the hardest by the outbreak, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported Sunday.

The amount deducted from the salaries of IRGC commanders will be disbursed to Iranians who lost their jobs because of the pandemic, said IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Ramezan Sharif, according to the report.

Sharif stated that all members of the IRGC have “announced readiness to allocate part of their wages to this benevolent act,” and explained that more extensive pay cuts would be instituted in coordination with the relevant authorities.

Last week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Iranian citizens to “provide sincere assistance” to the nation’s impoverished.

Khamenei said Iranians should create a society of “justice, dignity, science, brotherhood.”