The world is in the grip of twin health and financial crises. The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. The rapid spread of the disease has challenged world leaders and stretched health capacity to the limit in many countries. In their attempts to reduce the health risks, countries have drastically curtailed economic activity, making a global recession almost certain. Oil exporters are facing an additional crisis, with falling oil prices due to shrinking demand and the failure to reach agreement on production cuts. Comparable reductions in government revenues are expected to add to the economic woes. However, Iranian hard-liners are focused on escalation against the US and its allies, taking advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the emerging health and economic problems. How Iran allowed the coronavirus to spread before taking measures to contain it exposed deep problems in its political system and the dangers of clerical control of governmental decisions. Some clerics dismissed fears of contagion, claiming that frequenting religious sites and engaging in sacred rituals immunized visitors from the disease. This approach, together with a fragile health system, led to Iran becoming the first center of the disease outside China. Tehran cynically encouraged citizens from neighboring countries to visit crowded religious sites in Iran without safeguards. It waived the stamping of passports to hide the fact that visitors had been to Iran, which made it difficult to screen travelers upon their return. It appears now that a majority of the infections detected in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries involved people who had visited Iran. Adding to the confusion, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hinted that the US was behind the spread of the disease. Last week, he instructed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to establish a “medical base” to prevent the spread of the disease. The next day, he tweeted in English: “Since there is some evidence that this may be a ‘#BiologicalAttack,’ the establishment of this base in the armed forces for confronting the #Coronavirus may also be regarded as a biological defense exercise.” IRGC head Maj. Gen. Mohammed Salami speculated on March 5 that the global coronavirus outbreak might be a “US biological warfare attack on China.” Others said that coronavirus in Iran was an American biological attack aimed at the “resistance axis,” i.e., Iran and its regional allies. Some see the disease in apocalyptic terms. On Sunday, Ali Reza Benahyan, a cleric close to Khamenei, said that the coronavirus spread was a certain sign of the approaching return of Al-Mahdi. The worse the conditions get, the closer we are to his reappearance, he told Tasnim News Agency. While most people ridicule such pronouncements, many average citizens probably believed them. The denial of a scientific basis for the contagion accounts for the reluctance of some of those affected to declare themselves as such or to seek help, explaining in part the disease’s rapid spread in Iran and the difficulties GCC countries initially faced in detecting it in travelers from Iran. Cynically, the IRGC saw in the epidemic an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of its designs in the region. This has been evident in Iraq and Yemen over the past few weeks. In late February, Kata’ib Hezbollah, the Iranian-allied militia in Iraq, chose Abu Fadak, aka Abdul-Aziz Al-Mohammadawi, to succeed Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, who was killed in the US drone attack that targeted Qassem Soleimani in January. His choice indicated a harder line toward the US and its allies. Abu Fadak was previously in charge of intelligence at Kata’ib Hezbollah, managing its close affiliation with the IRGC. He was also responsible for coordinating the relationships between the Iran-allied militias in Iraq and Hezbollah of Lebanon and the Syrian regime. He is believed to have visited Yemen to assist the Houthis in their fight against the Yemeni government. Abu Fadak is also believed to have close contacts with Iran-allied groups in Bahrain, organizing their trips to Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Abu Fadak wasted no time in carrying out Iran’s plans to drive American troops out of Iraq. His group is believed to be behind a number of recent attacks against US interests in Iraq. On March 11, a rocket attack on the Camp Taji base, north of Baghdad, which is used by the global anti-Daesh coalition, killed two Americans and one member of Britain’s armed forces, while injuring 14 others. Then, on Saturday, more than two dozen rockets were fired at the same base, wounding three Americans and two Iraqis. In Yemen, the Iran-allied Houthis have reopened several fronts in a bid to drive government forces out. They attacked several targets in the Nehm Mountains near Sanaa, and in the Al-Jawf and Dhale provinces. In the process, the Houthis made the humanitarian crisis in the country worse. While the UN and coalition countries, led by Saudi Arabia, are trying to improve the humanitarian situation, the Houthis are exasperating the UN’s patience. They have hoarded aid intended for the needy, sold it on the black market at exorbitant prices, and frequently denied the UN access to food stores established by the organization itself. The new attacks have displaced tens of thousands of Yemenis, who have fled to government-controlled areas. The Houthis appear to follow the same pattern as Iran in terms of disregard for human lives in their pursuit for political and military gain. It appears, then, that Iran’s hard-line officials have not seen the need during these difficult times to de-escalate and reach out to their neighbors and the international community. Instead, they have found it to be an opportunity to pursue their quixotic ambitions to dominate the region, while Iran itself is in the grips of a devastating disease and facing a deepening economic crisis that could lead to its bankruptcy. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council’s assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC. Twitter: @abuhamad1 Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point-of-view