Drug Crisis Hits Iran With Severe Shortages, Price Surges, and Currency Devaluation

Finding certain medications in Iran has become increasingly difficult, exacerbating the suffering of patients and their families as the domestic industry suffers from the US naval blockade and Washington's tightened sanctions on Tehran.

Prices for some drugs have risen to more than three times their usual cost, adding pressure on Iranians' financial situations after seven months of war between the United States, Israel, and Iran.

Food and other commodity prices have also surged sharply, accompanied by rising unemployment and a devaluation of the local currency, which recorded a historic drop this week, losing half its value.

The conflict has transformed into a test of economic resilience. While Iran sought to raise global energy prices by attacking oil shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, the United States aimed to cripple the Iranian economy by imposing a blockade on the country's ports since last June and enforcing increasingly stringent sanctions.

Although there are no signs of acute drug shortages within Iranian hospitals, difficulties have become clearly evident in pharmacies.

A Journey of Hardship

Gholam Reza Rahmani, a welder from Tehran, and his wife spent two full days searching through several pharmacies for four types of medication for their 12-year-old daughter, who was suffering from stomach disorders.

Rahmani told the Associated Press: "Each pharmacy had only one or two items available, not all of them," noting that they could not find one of the required medications anywhere.

The search for medicines cost him a day's wages, as he was unable to go to work.

According to official statistics, Iran produces more than 80 percent of its medications domestically; however, many of these rely on imported raw materials.

In a statement to local media, Bahman Sabour, a member of the Tehran Pharmacists Association, said that most medications were transported by sea before the war, but the US blockade cut off shipping lines.

An Unsafe Risk

Importers of medical supplies turned to more expensive air freight routes, but this option is now threatened by new US sanctions imposed on several Iranian airlines, leading to the suspension of most international flights.

Reza Majdzadeh, a professor at the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Essex in England, states that while US sanctions do not directly target medications, the financial sanctions imposed over years also harm drug and component supplies. International banks and companies often exercise excessive caution and refuse to complete transactions for fear of being accused of violating US sanctions.

He adds: "Selling a specific drug to Iran may be perfectly legal, but the bank might refuse to facilitate the payment. Similarly, a pharmaceutical or shipping company might simply decide that dealing with Iran isn't worth the risk. The deal is legal on paper, but it doesn't happen in reality."

The Iranian government has not announced the extent of the decline in pharmaceutical production, but officials indicate that the sector has been damaged by airstrikes that harmed more than 40 drug factories, including those producing cancer treatments.