January 22, 2021

A new report by the Center for Strategic Studies, the research arm of the Iranian president’s office, says Iran’s government reacted inefficiently and unsuccessfully to the threat posed by Covid-19.

Entitled Capacity of Governments in Responding to the Coronavirus Crisis, the report examines the initial responses of several countries around the world to the crisis and concludes, “The main factor influencing the success or failure of countries in managing the coronavirus crisis is the governance practices. All other factors, including the type of state, countries’ financial and technological capabilities and the public attitude, can only play a significant role if they were within the framework of a suitable governance model for the crisis.”

IranWire reports that the study goes on to identify some of the most important characteristics of a successful response to a contagious disease outbreak. These include “sufficient courage and realism to accept the depth and scope of the crisis, and sufficient will to act swiftly and decisively, even when this action might be against political interests.”

The Center for Strategic Studies goes on to declare another important quality is “respect for scientific evidence, and basing all decisions and interventions on such evidence.”

Finally, the report states, “Successful leaders sought to make the coronavirus crisis a cause of solidarity and connection in their country, not a cause of rupture … [and] spoke neither of the enemy nor of a conspiracy, nor of political exploitation of their rivals, and considered the main enemy to be the virus itself and the pandemic, defining their mission as protecting their people against the economic, social and psychological consequences of the crisis.”

“The performance of the Iranian regime during the coronavirus crisis,” it goes on, “was not only unacceptable, but in many respects was poor even among the countries of this region. We have one of the highest death tolls in Asia and the highest death toll in the region; we fell behind in the number of tests taken compared to many countries in the region; and we were very fragmented, weak, and sometimes even incapable of policy-making, decision-making and implementation.

“Iran’s governing apparatus did not score well in any of the characteristics mentioned for successful countries in crisis. This indicates the need for a fundamental reconsideration of the mode of governance.”

The report goes on to offer some possible ways of reconfiguring governance in the country. First, it states: “Crises must be recognized, accepted and thought about. Denying crises does not destroy them; it turns them into a catastrophe. Coronavirus has shown that the government in Iran is suffering from at least four relatively stable and long-term issues.” These are listed as decision-making, public trust, political cohesion and “capability.”

“At the national level,” the report states, “coronavirus has proven that the government in Iran, despite its large scope and multitude of personnel, is very weak and inefficient.” A policy of “empowerment,” it says, must be pursued to improve the situation – as must the lifting of international sanctions on the country as soon as possible.