The coronavirus crisis in Iran has opened up an internal fight between the government and its Revolutionary Guard

Reuters

• The Iranian state is split into two factions: The elected government of President Hassan Rouhani and the Revolutionary Guard of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
• The Revolutionary Guard has pushed for the under-reporting of coronavirus cases in the country, and a relaxation of the lockdown.
• That triggered a resurgence of infections in April, sources tell Insider.
• The Revolutionary Guard has also recently bungled a missile test that killed 19 sailors and accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet.
• The Rouhani government thus sees an opening to take more control of the situation.
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Iran's elected government under President Hassan Rouhani is embroiled in an internal power struggle against hardline factions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for control of the country's response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The struggle has been exacerbated by two military disasters this year: January's accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian jetliner over Tehran, which killed 176 people; and last Sunday's failed naval missile test that accidentally killed at least 19 Iranian sailors and left more than a dozen still missing. 

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