ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the response to the COVID-19 crisis in Iran and seeks to understand how the institutional arrangements created fit within the existing constitutional system. It also asks what future impact they might have on constitutional rights and relations between different branches of government. The chapter traces the options available under the Iranian Constitution to face such a crisis and analyses the constitutional path chosen for the establishment of the National Headquarters to Combat Corona (NHCC), as well as its impact on the power dynamic between different constitutional actors. It also reviews the legal grounds and the scope of NHCC decision-making power, and the potential for its overreach. It concludes that the institutional design created in response to the pandemic has exposed the structural defects and limits of Iran’s constitutional system, especially with respect to the division of power between the executive branch and the Supreme Leader on the one hand, and Parliament and other specialised constitutional councils on the other. The lack of judicial and legislative oversight over NHCC decisions exposes the dangers of this institutional scheme.
