The protégé of Iran's supreme leader, Ebrahim Raisi, was sworn in as the country's new president during a ceremony in parliament on Thursday, an inauguration that completes hard-liners' dominance of all branches of government in the Islamic Republic. But Raisi's confirmation also comes at a sensitive time for Iran and the wider Middle East. The country is reeling from crushing U.S. sanctions that have devastated the economy, led to the crash of the Iranian riyal and hit ordinary Iranians hard. Exacerbating Iran's despair, the coronavirus has spiraled out of control, with authorities reporting a record of 39,000 new cases on Tuesday — almost 2,000 more than the previous day. Given the brinkmanship over its accelerating nuclear program and the West alleging that Tehran launched a fatal drone attack targeting an oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire last week, one might think that had already happened. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Subscribe to our newest channel Quicktake Explained: https://bit.ly/3iERrup Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake