Medical NGO MSF surprised by Iran decision to cancel coronavirus mission

French medical charity MSF said on Tuesday it did not understand a decision by Iranian authorities to cancel a mission it had prearranged to set up a facility to fight coronavirus in Isfahan.

"We are surprised to learn that the deployment of our treatment unity is canceled", Michel-Olivier Lacharite, who is in charge of Medecins Sans Frontieres crisis response team, said in a statement.

He said the group had been given prior approval and were ready to set up the 50-bed unit at the end of the week. He said they were still ready to deploy on Iran or elsewhere in the region.