The Irish Times view on Covid-19 crisis in Iran

Iran on Wednesday reported its single biggest jump in fatalities from coronavirus, as another 147 people died, raising the country's overall death toll to 1,135 and its confirmed cases to 17,361. Yet food markets remain packed and roads crowded as families travel ahead of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, today.

Field hospitals have been erected in carparks, stadiums and wedding halls to handle the overflow of the afflicted. And although the authorities have at last this week closed down crowded Shia shrines, there are reports that in Qom and Mashhad religious zealots stormed police barriers at both mosques to reopen them.

The country’s delayed and confused response to the crisis, costing its 80 million people dearly, has been compounded by deep splits within its two-headed power structure, the military/religious and secular leaderships, and by its authoritarian instinct to suppress and deny bad news. Efforts are further hobbled by continuing US sanctions.

Reports suggest President Hassan Rouhani has clashed with the military over demands they be allowed to close down public movement in Tehran and at least 11 provinces. Rouhani has warned that the government does not have the capacity to feed the quarantined. A number of provinces, however, have ordered their own lockdowns. Experts say under-testing is hiding the true toll, claiming the infected may number up to 100,000.

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This week the US announced it would expand its sanctions on Iran. The measures, reimposed after President Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear agreement in 2018, are seriously inhibiting access to humanitarian supplies. And many Europeans fear the US will also block Iran's request for a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to help deal with the crisis.

It is politically useful for Rouhani to deflect attention away from his own incompetence to the US’s unconscionable approach. But Washington is playing a dangerous game that is likely to entrench hardliners opposed to accommodation with the West.