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Iranian clerical regime has refused to deal w/ corona virus since its arrival into Iran. The government first lied about date it became aware of the virus and its death tolls and it failed to call for national quarantine in early March 2020 (https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/24/how-iran-botched-coronavirus-pandemic-response/). First confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 infections was reported on February 19, 2020 in Qom. The virus may have been brought to the country by a merchant from Qom who had traveled to China. Iran became a center of the spread of the virus in the Middle East, with more than ten countries tracing their cases back to Iran by 28 February. As of March 23, 2020 "the fatality rate [in Iran] is one person every 10 minutes or six people per hour." All of this is due to incompetence and corruption by the government--sanctions don't lead to government's incompetence.