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Source: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2020/04/09/covid-19-in-iran/
Covid-12 in Iran
(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Alireza Nader and Saeed Ghasseminejad - Iran's coronavirus epidemic is the worst in the Middle East. The regime has reported 66,220 confirmed cases and 4,110 fatalities. But there is no reason to trust these figures given the regime's history of deception and its inability to acquire accurate data in some of Iran's border regions. Accurate numbers might never surface. Much like their Chinese counterparts, senior Iranian officials knew about the epidemic in January but did not acknowledge it. The regime also refused to adopt basic recommended public health protocols. To stimulate its economy, Iran could draw on its $300 billion worth of currency reserves, the $100 billion the regime has stashed away in its sovereign wealth fund, or Khamenei's $200 billion business empire. But the regime has yet to do so. Alireza Nader is a senior fellow at FDD, where Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior Iran and financial economics advisor.