Iran gripped by third covid wave cancels religious marches

After most of Iran’s 32 provinces were classified red, denoting widespread coronavirus contagion, President Hassan Rouhani declared: “We will have no religious marches this year, no pilgrimages to Iraq.” Ost years, millions of Irani Shiites embark on pilgrimage to the Iraqi shrine city of Kerbala. The Health Ministry in Tehran admitted that Iran has recorded the worst covid pandemic spiral in the Middle East, although official figures are suspected of being below the real ones.