Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the British strain of coronavirus spreading from Iraq is causing a new wave of the pandemic, which has led to an increase in the number of deaths in Iran, Tasnim reported.

Rouhani said that the main cause of the fourth wave of the pandemic in Iran was a British strain that spread from Iraq through the border provinces of Khuzestan and Ilam in western Iran.

The president also linked the new wave of the pandemic to gatherings with large groups of people in gatherings and travel during the new Iranian year without observing sanitary protocols, as well as celebrations and weddings held in violation of coronavirus restrictions.

He called for the prosecution of violators of sanitary norms, warning about the violation of quarantine by carriers of the infection.

All Iranian provincial capitals have been categorized as "red zones" with a high risk of a coronavirus pandemic, as the number of daily infections in the country has reached an all-time high in recent days.