(CTN News) - Iran and Pakistan have agreed to expand their trade volume to $10 billion, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday, adding that the
Iran Arrests Eight For Leading Strike Over Wages At Key Gas Site globalsecurity.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from globalsecurity.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
While the comment infuriated the sitting government, to many it was an honest slip of the tongue about the extent of the crisis in Iran's cash-strapped economy, stirring up also speculation on Chinese "colonial-style" influence.
Electoral “engineering” propelled Ebrahim Raisi to the presidency and further entrenched conservative rule in Iran. But the Islamic Republic’s eighth president, who campaigned on a populist agenda and officially took office on August 3, has inherited three intersecting challenges: a public health emergency, a sanctions-stricken economy, and a crisis of public confidence in government. Of the three, the COVID-19 pandemic demands the most urgent attention, as the country is experiencing is most devastating wave yet of the virus. However, the Iranian government’s mismanagement of the pandemic response to date, which has contributed to unnecessary loss of life and hardship, suggests that it may be many months before the coronavirus is contained.