Iran is continuing to be hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and officials fear it is only a matter of time before another powerful variant — possibly even a home-grown one — will follow the Delta variant and further devastate the country.

"Given the ongoing situation, and the vast spread of the virus, it is not too much to assert that we are about to face a new indigenous variant," said Alijan Tabraee, the head of the Iranian Society of Virologists. "We have created the hotbed for the virus to mutate," he added, noting that it could be only a matter of weeks before such a variant sweeps nationwide.

The pandemic has shown its ugliest side in Iran during the past month, with cataclysmic death and infection rates caused in large part by the fast-spreading Delta variant. Iranians continue to line up at cemeteries to bury their loved ones as others are pushed away from hospitals, which have reached capacity, most noticeably in the capital, Tehran.   

Even as the government says it is ramping up its controversial vaccination rollout, the country's senior epidemiologists do not see any flattened curve in the weeks to come. They are already warning about a "sixth wave" of a more aggressive pandemic around October.