As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, the devastation it leaves in its wake is, for the time being, incalculable.
In addition to the rising deaths, there are overloaded medical facilities, widespread layoffs, and countless impacts on everyday life: weddings on hold, kids home from school, festivals postponed, nightclubs closed until further notice.
The ultimate effects of the disease are likely to be as much cultural as they are economic. Iran has been hit particularly hard, and not only in terms of its global share of the sick and the dead.
The coronavirus has struck the Islamic Republic as it was already reeling from a succession of upheavals: massive protests and a violent government crackdown; the American government’s