Iran faces severe medicine shortages amid war, sanctions and blockade

Iran's pharmaceutical sector is reporting shortages of hundreds of medicines, alongside steep price increases and wider supply-chain disruption, as the war with the US enters its seventh month. The shortages are affecting both imported products and medicines made inside the country, according to the supplied material. Officials and industry representatives say the pressure is being felt across production, transport and distribution.

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The confirmed figures point to a broad national supply problem. Iranian media have reported that about 90 of the medicines in short supply are classed as essential or life-saving. Hadi Ahmadi, a spokesperson for the Iranian Pharmacists Association, said around 400 of the scarce medicines are produced domestically, indicating that local manufacturing has not been enough to shield the sector from disruption.

Ruhollah Lak Aliabadi, a member of parliament's health commission, said access problems for imported inputs were feeding directly into production and distribution failures. Vahideh Mahmoudkhani, who heads the health department at Iran's trade centre in Shanghai, said the war had completely shut down some supply routes and made others much longer. She said some medicines that had already run out were still stuck in transit.

The supplied material also says medicines and humanitarian goods are normally exempt from direct sanctions under international law, but banking restrictions and difficulties transferring foreign currency can still block purchases of drugs and raw materials. It adds that blockade-related transport disruption has compounded those problems. The crisis matters because it combines public health pressure with wider economic and logistical strain.

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A near-six-fold price rise for basic drugs suggests that shortages are not only a matter of availability but also affordability. For patients needing essential or life-saving treatment, delays in supply can quickly become a medical emergency. The situation also highlights how conflict and financial restrictions can affect civilian access to healthcare even when medicines are formally exempt from sanctions.

The supplied material says the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and cargo vessels was imposed in April, briefly lifted after a framework agreement, and then reinstated after talks collapsed. It also says Washington launched Operation Economic Outcast in late August to further restrict Tehran's access to international financial networks. Mehdi Pirsalehi, head of Iran's Food and Drug Organisation, said 44 companies in the medicines and medical equipment sector had been targeted in attacks since the war began, with staff killed and wounded.

He made the remarks at a pharmaceutical exhibition in Tehran and said two companies struck directly by several missiles had resumed production. One of the companies named in the supplied material was Tofigh Daru, which was struck in late March, according to Israeli officials cited in the row. The broader picture is of a sector trying to keep operating while facing damaged facilities, blocked routes and shortages of imported raw materials.

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