Iranian authorities say they are investigating whether "biological warfare" could be behind the coronavirus pandemic. The Middle Eastern country has suffered one of the worst outbreaks of Covid-19 in the world, with more than 71,600 confirmed cases and 4,474 deaths.
The first cases were reported in late February, although the government first said coronavirus had been "hyped" by their American enemies to suppress election turnout, and that it would "punish anyone spreading rumours about a serious epidemic".
The government was forced to take the outbreak more seriously after the number of cases soared following public celebrations of Nowruz, Iranian New Year, although its response has been criticised as slow and sceptical of how bad things