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Coronavirus and sanctions hit Iran’s support of proxies in Iraq: Reuters report
[AlAhram] Iran’s financial and military support for Shia proxy paramilitary groups in Iraq, a linchpin of its regional foreign policy, has been dramatically disrupted by the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
Since the coronavirus hit earlier this year, Iran has reduced its monthly payments to each of the four top militia groups in Iraq to between $2 million and $3 million from $4.5 million to $5 million, said one of the commanders, who belongs to a powerful paramilitary group.
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
 pandemic and US sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.

Interruptions caused by the virus, including border closings to prevent the spread of the disease, have drastically cut Tehran’s cash supplies to the militia groups in recent months, said three Iraqi paramilitary group commanders and a regional official familiar with Iran’s activities in Iraq.
Posted by: trailing wife 2020-07-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=575978