ASSESSMENTS

Iran Is in the Eye of the Coronavirus Storm

Feb 25, 2020 | 20:10 GMT

Kuwaiti Health Minister Sheikh Basel al-Sabah, right, speaks with the media on Feb. 22, 2020, as officials at the Kuwait City airport prepare to take Kuwaitis returning from Iran to a hospital to be tested for the COVID-19 virus. Iran has emerged as a regional epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

(YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Highlights

Given its weak health infrastructure, especially in rural areas, Iran will struggle to contain the spread of the coronavirus; the country has become a source of infection in the broader region.
The Iranian public's lack of trust in the government's ability to disseminate accurate information will further undercut Iran's ability to contain the virus, even as the virus becomes a convenient excuse for the government to explain low participation in recent parliamentary elections.
As the coronavirus spreads, the United States will be pressured by the global community to weaken its firm trade and financial sanctions on Iran to help Tehran access the materials and financial support it needs to contain and combat the outbreak.

With cases in a half-dozen Middle Eastern countries that originated from travel within its borders, Iran has emerged as a regional epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak that causes the respiratory illness the World Health Organization calls COVID-19 just as global fears of a pandemic are amplifying. Not only are there clear negative impacts for Iran politically and economically as well as potential negative economic and health impacts for the surrounding region, depending on how Iran manages the internal and external information flow, the outbreak could also harm and/or help Tehran's already fragile foreign friendships, should it compel Tehran to reach out to the broader world for more help....

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