1、 1 Sonali Chowdhry,Anna-Katharina Jacobs,and Katrin Kamin KIEL POLICY BRIEF Iran is one of the hardest hit countries from COVID-19 and the growing caseload of infections is placing pressure on its limited healthcare infrastructure.Irans government failed to react quickly to the outbreak,exacerbating
2、 the crisis.Trust in politicians is low,which may further impede communication between the administration and public on COVID-19.Since the withdrawal of the US from the nuclear deal,Iran is also facing intensified US sanctions that may hinder a timely medical response to the pandemic.Sanctions can d
3、irectly complicate interventions to manage the COVID-19 outbreak by creating bureaucratic obstacles to the imports of medical products and by impeding business and financial transactions with Iran including humanitarian deals.Intensified US sanctions have also weakened the Iranian economy,increased
4、the cost of living and restrained imports of raw materials needed for local production of medical equipment.As a responsible global actor,the EU should safeguard the flow of medical equipment for humanitarian purposes,strengthen the response of multilateral institutions to the crisis and maintain it
