Iran’s financial crisis weakens its coronavirus response

“Because of the financial crisis, the Iranian government cannot protect its population against the coronavirus,” says Hadi Kahalzadeh.

“It’s a very grave situation,” says the Iran expert and PhD fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies and the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

As of May 5, Iran had recorded over 6,000 deaths and nearly 100,000 cases of the novel coronavirus.

Though that rate is still below the United States and much of Europe’s, the country was already suffering from a severe economic downturn, in part due to crippling US sanctions.

Since 2018, when it withdrew from the nuclear deal signed by President Obama, the Trump administration has imposed a policy of “maximum pressure,” restricting oil exports and limiting access to the international banking system.

Here, Kahalzadeh discusses the humanitarian and economic crisis in Iran and the impact of US sanctions:

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