Chaos in Iran: the case for humanitarian diplomacy
If you think Covid-19 has turned life upside down in the West, said Robin Wright in The New Yorker, you should take a look at what the Middle East is going through. Plagued by high youth unemployment, and in recent years subjected to wave after wave of popular protest, the region was in a state of turmoil long before the coronavirus pandemic hit. But now it’s facing two crippling crises at the same time: not just a public health emergency but also a historic collapse in global oil prices. This will prove devastating for Saudi Arabia, which – for the first time since Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, in 1798 – will likely ban the annual hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, which takes place each July. But it’s even worse for Iran, the country most affected by Covid-19, where cases of the virus have surged past 124,000, more than double the number in Saudi Arabia – the region’s second worst hit country.
The situation in Iran is truly awful, said Kourosh Ziabari in the Asia Times. One of the last lifelines of its sanctions-hit economy was tourism, but now this, too, is unravelling. Fat chance now of the country reaching its ambitious goal of attracting 20 million tourists annually by 2025. In a desperate bid to get the economy going, the authorities in Tehran have been rushing to reopen businesses and schools – a move most experts believe is far too premature. Iran’s leaders have mishandled the outbreak from the start, said Ray Takeyh on CFR.org, downplaying the risks, peddling conspiracy theories and offering quack solutions. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei suggested the virus was “specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians, which [the US has] obtained through different means”. A senior Iranian general recently appeared on state TV brandishing the “Mustaan”, a handheld device that he claimed could detect the virus from 100 metres away.
The chaos in Iran isn’t just due to poor leadership, said Seyed Hossein Mousavian on Al Jazeera; US sanctions have also played their part. Notwithstanding the health emergency, the Trump administration has been heaping yet more pressure on Iran: it has further tightened sanctions and is blocking Iran’s attempt to get a loan of $5bn from the IMF to combat the disease. This is simply cruel. Washington should change course and use this crisis as an opportunity for displaying “humanitarian diplomacy”. It must know that if it sticks to its hard-line position, “the consequences for millions of Iranians will be dire”.