This would be a fantastic time for Iran to drop it's bs sponsorship of Hezbollah, Assad, Shiite militias, Houthi rebels, work with the US, and save lives both there and in the rest of the world.
Why is that the bar for preventing a pandemic? I guess it makes sense if you're generally okay with sanctions: killing off a population slowly to force unrest. However, I just don't see why this is the requirement for something that won't be regionally restricted. It's cutting your nose to spite your face.
No, it's cutting off someone else's nose to spite their face. Big difference.
Unless it spreads, as pandemics like to do.
A zero-sum game is a zero-sum game is a zero-sum game. If it spreads, it's likely to do so to other MidEast countries and Africa. And while, in an ideal world, the US would like to be friends with everybody, they are cozying up to China. If that happens, the old adage goes: We had to destroy the village in order to save it.