Sanctions and Airstrikes Trigger Severe Medicine Shortages in Iran

Chronically ill patients in Iran are facing severe medicine shortages and price spikes affecting approximately 800 medications. The crisis forces patients to underdose or switch to less effective generics as the country struggles with a fractured supply chain and a lack of foreign currency for specialty drug imports.

Shahram Kalantari, head of the Iranian Association of Pharmacists, reports that insurance companies owe nearly 800 trillion rials to over 18,000 private pharmacies. He noted that these pharmacies can no longer afford to invest their own capital while waiting a year for outstanding payments.

Infrastructure damage has further crippled the sector. U.S. and Israeli airstrikes earlier this year damaged more than 40 pharmaceutical entities, including the Pasteur Institute and the Tofigh Daru factory. While the U.S. government officially permits humanitarian transactions for medicine, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently announced a crackdown on sanction-evasion networks. The U.S. administration has also adopted a presumed denial stance on certain licenses, which has discouraged international trade despite the humanitarian exemptions.