If the leadership of the World Health Organization can spare a moment from their genuflecting to Beijing, they should direct their attention to another authoritarian state struggling to contain the coronavirus: Iran.
The Islamic Republic's mismanagement of the contagion represents an imminent threat not only to Iranians but to all of the Middle East and Central Asia — and possibly, given the menacing nature of the microbe, the larger world.
Iran already accounts for more deaths from the virus than any country outside China. It is widespread: Cases have been reported from most of Iran's provinces. The official death toll of 19 as of Thursday was almost certainly understated. An Iranian lawmaker had put the count at 50 in the holy city of Qom alone. Officials in Tehran dismiss this as an exaggeration, but they have even less credibility than Iran's currency.