(30 Dec 2020) LEAD IN:
Already no stranger to top news headlines, Iran has had an additional reason to be in major international news this year: the coronavirus outbreak.

STORY-LINE:
With a nuclear programme still at the centre of controversy, and longstanding tensions with a major world power, Iranian developments remained a matter of global interest throughout 2020.
Iran and the U.S. were locked in heated tensions very early into 2020, after the United States killed a top Iranian general.
For Iranians, Gen. Qassem Soleimani was a popular figure of national resilience in the face of four decades of U.S. pressure.
For the U.S. and Israel, he was a shadowy figure in command of Iran's proxy forces.
By Jan. 8, the U.S. and Iran stepped back from the brink of possible war but the tensions repeatedly flared again throughout the year and the region remained on edge.
At the time, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will impose new sanctions on Iran.
Since withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, the administration had already imposed harsh sanctions on nearly every significant portion of Iran's economic, energy, shipping and military sectors.
Following Soleimani's killing, Iran's Revolutionary Guard accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people on board.
Iran at first try to hide its responsibility but in the face of mounting evidence it eventually acknowledged it.
Conflict between Iran and the U.S. escalated after the Trump administration's 2018 withdrawal from the international nuclear deal and reimposed crippling sanctions.
Tehran abandoned all limits on its enrichment months after Trump's pullout from the agreement.
Iran is enriching uranium to as much as 4.5% purity, higher than allowed under the accord but still far lower than weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, which would have been under 300 kilograms (660 pounds) in the deal, now stands at over 2,440 kilograms (5,380 pounds), according to the latest report by U.N. inspectors.
That's potentially enough material to make at least two nuclear weapons, experts say, if Iran chose to pursue the bomb.
Next to the U.S., the Iranian nuclear program has been a major source of concern for Israel, which considers Iran an archenemy.
In the midst of the political turmoil, the coronavirus struck the region, hitting Iran the hardest.
The spread of the virus in February came as Iran held a parliamentary election.
The country also marked the 41st anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution with robust demonstrations.
Those mass events likely fueled the virus' spread.
The coronavirus pandemic has only grown worse in Iran in the course of the year, threatening everyone from the day laborer on the street to the upper reaches of the Islamic Republic.
The virus has sickened and killed top officials, becoming perhaps Iran's greatest threat since the turmoil and war that followed its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Squeezed by U.S. sanctions, Iran has avoided the full lockdowns seen in other countries as it struggles to keep its anemic economy alive.
The virus has overshadowed every major religious celebration and holiday in the country and has taken a toll on the economy.
Iran has asked the International Monetary Fund for $5 billion, potentially its first such loan since 1962.
Even as the virus spread massively in Iran, the stream of U.S.-Iranian tensions continued.
Those boats carry both mounted machine guns and missiles.

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