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. This week the US announced it would expand its sanctions on Iran. 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.

Source: The Irish Times March 20, 2020 01:00 UTC