Iran fights it alone
Increasing sanctions on Iran are causing more fatalities there.
Abstract
Why Iran fight Corona alone when the international community is getting united to defeat the contagion? The answer to this question can be traced in February 1979, when the Iranian soil witnessed a revolution. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini soon declared America ‘the great Satan’. The story was much better to end there but it did not. In November 1979, the US embassy in Tehran was besieged by the revolutionaries and the hostage crisis took place which lasted for 444 days. In revenge, the United States supported Saddam Hussein against Iran during the eight years’ war between Iraq and Iran from 1980 to 1988. Negotiations became tougher with every next date on the calendar. In 1991 and 2003 again, the United States was on the peak of her power and both the times she declined to settle the issues with Iran. Now it is easier to answer the question of the article. Iran fights it alone because America has not forgotten anything and history witnesses that powerful states are always extremely egoistic in policy makings. Tehran’s mournings are only Tehran’s and Washington and its allies do not care about it, let it be Soleimani’s assassination or Corona’s attack.
It all started in China in December 2019. The number of Coronavirus victims raised with the passage of time and today (as per 19th March 2020), there are total of 227,495 cases of COVID-19 with 9,303 confirmed deaths across the world due to this virus. Italy has become the second epicenter of this contagion after China. Almost every country in the world has become a victim of this virus in one way or the other.
China and Italy both are advanced states who have open communication with the entire world. They are not only stable but also prosper states. Both states enjoy the status of being economically sound and influential in almost every field. Talking about China, her might was comparable with America before the spread of COVID-19. She had also become the second-largest exporter of the weapons in the world, only beaten by the United States. She also has her investments in almost every corner of the world. China’s One Belt One Road initiative is also well-known around the globe, even she was in economic war with America before this year. Despite being such a mighty nation, China suffers most on account of this virus. As per now, the total cases of COVID-19 in China are 80,928 and the death toll is 3,245. Italy ranks second, as there are 35,713 registered cases of Coronavirus infected people there, with the death toll of 2,978. In the United States alone, there are 9,479 preys of this illness son far with 155 deaths.
When the early victims of this virus appeared (on 19th February 2020) in Iran, the authorities did not take it seriously then. For instance, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister, Iraj Harirchi said in a press conference, “With regard to quarantine_we are absolutely against them. Quarantines belong to pre-World War-I _to the plague, cholera, {and} stuff like that.” On 3rd March the Iranian Supreme Leader tweeted, “I don’t want to say it’s unimportant, but let’s not exaggerate, the Coronavirus won’t affect the country for long and will leave.” By March 6, Iranian authorities acknowledged that the Coronavirus had reached all thirty-one provinces of the country. Witnessing such a scenario, Harirchi stated in a video, “I beg the people to minimize their trips and contacts and isolate the infected people from others completely.” As per today. Iran reports nearly 18,407 infections and 1,284 deaths, becoming the third most affected country due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Around twelve Iranian politicians and officials, sitting and former have also died from this illness.
In such situations, on one hand, the international community including few influential international organizations like WHO (World Health Organization) and EU (European Union) are collaborating with the affected nations to overcome the pandemic, whereas, on the other hand, the US President Donald Trump has imposed more sanctions on Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the sanctions will target nine entities and three individuals. “The sanctions mainly target Iran’s petrochemical industry and are intended to further Iran’s economic and diplomatic isolation”, he added. He also argued that the recent rocket attacks by Iran in Iraq, on the Iraqi and US-coalition forces, caused America to slap Iran with further sanctions.
Ultimately, Iran fights Coronavirus alone with no other option left. The Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said that Iran’s COVID-19 fight is severely hampered by the US-sanctions. Tehran has also asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 5 billion US Dollars in emergency funding. Though WHO has sent test kits and protective gear to Iran but it’s not enough for a country to fight the virus as she has been under heavy sanctions for decades.
This is not the first time that America has turned a crisis into an opportunity. For example, Trump had also imposed sanctions on Tehran when there were anti-government riots in the streets of Iran in August 2018.
To conclude, there are a number of assumptions regarding this virus’s emergence and its vaccine but none is sure. Its outbreak has hit the global economy, tourism, and politics very hard. Every nation is a victim of this disease directly or indirectly. The international community is uniting hands to fight against it, but Iran seems to fight it alone. US’s recent sanctions are making the Iranians to further suffocate due to the Coronavirus and US egoistic policies.