Iran International:

leading pharmaceutical industry figure warned that Iran faces inevitable production disruptions and severe drug shortages by March, as renewed UN sanctions under the snapback mechanism tighten access to foreign currency and strain supply chains.

Projections based on 2024 and 2025 data, compiled before the reactivation of UN sanctions on September 28, show a widening gap between Iran’s foreign currency allocations and the pharmaceutical sector’s import needs, Mojtaba Sarkandi told reformist daily Etemad on Sunday.

“The industry operates on two realities,” Sarkandi said. “While up to 99 percent of the country’s medicines are domestically produced, a significant share of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and key stabilizing compounds still come from abroad, mostly China and India.”

International sanctions have severely disrupted Iran’s access to medicine and medical equipment, according to the report by Etemad.

Although humanitarian goods are formally exempt from sanctions, restrictions on banking, shipping, and insurance have made it difficult for Iranian importers to pay for or transport essential drugs. As a result, hospitals and pharmacies often face shortages of life-saving medicines, especially for cancer, multiple sclerosis, and rare diseases.

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