Coronavirus outbreak increasing Iran’s isolation

Islam Mohamed

Iran suffers international isolation. It still reels under U.S. economic sanctions and is on a collision course with western states. On Friday, the French Financial Action Task Force added the Islamic Republic to its blacklist.

Iran also suffers regional isolation as a result of its devastating interference in the affairs of regional states. This interference is triggering protests in Iraq and Lebanon.

The Iranian regime is also still incapable of finding solutions to Iran’s internal problems. The outbreak of the coronavirus compounds all these challenges and makes things worse in Iran.

Iran has the world’s second largest coronavirus fatalities after China. The outbreak of the disease makes Iran even more isolated.

Nevertheless, some people hold Iranian authorities responsible for the rise in the number of virus fatalities. They accuse these authorities of failing to take the necessary measures to keep the lid on the emergence of the disease.

Iran’s neighboring states shudder at the prospect of the disease seeping out of it and into them. The disease has already oozed out of Iran and into Iraq and Lebanon. The same two states have been witnessing demonstrations against growing Iranian interference in them.

The coronavirus outbreak in Iran has emboldened the demonstrators in Iraq into demanding a closure of all land crossings between their country and the Islamic Republic. The demonstrators are also stepping up criticism of Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdel Mahdi, for failing to take enough measures to counter the disease.

The outbreak of the disease in Iran has also weakened the position of Iraqi political parties campaigning for strong ties with Iran. These parties are now accused of neglecting their country’s best interests and caring only about relations with the Islamic Republic.

In Lebanon, there are also growing calls for denying Iranian citizens entry into the Arab state.