Iran’s severe mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis and its continuing lack of transparency has earned it the reputation of being a major center of the global pandemic, and its porous borders further adds to the chaos in the Arab world.
“I believe the Iranian government betrayed their people so they didn’t announce the extent of the coronavirus and they didn’t take the needed measurements to limit or minimize the extent of it in the Middle East,” Dr. Faisal Al-Rfouh, a professor of political science and international studies at the University of Jordan, told The Epoch Times over the phone.
Al-Rfouh, a former Jordanian Minister of Culture and a visiting professor of Glendon Political Science at York University in Toronto, believes that the Iranian regime is responsible for the spread of the CCP virus in the Arab world.
Reports back Al-Rfouh’s claim—roughly 9 out of 10 of the over 18,000 confirmed cases in the Middle East come from Iran, including the first confirmed cases in Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. The Fulbright Scholar calls them a “dangerous gift,” an irresponsible act that caused a widespread crisis.
This irresponsible spread of the deadly virus, according to him, has intensified the anti-Iran sentiment in the Middle East.
“Not just angry, they are very angry! Arab nations are angry with the zero measurements or the ways with which they dealt with it and they spread this disease,” said Al-Rfouh.
While the callous handling of affairs by Iran certainly contributed to the crisis in the entire Middle East, Iran’s location on the geostrategic map and the “permeability and porousness” of its borders has caused concerns in the Pentagon, according to Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia.
“Iran sits in the middle of the [Middle East] theater, so their ability to pass that infection to other states is very worrisome,” McKenzie said in a briefing with lawmakers.
David Adams
Article URL : https://www.theepochtimes.com/iran-spreads-coronavirus-to-23-nations-remains-a-threat-due-to-porous-borders_3276515.html