Iran medicine shortages deepen as war, shipping restrictions continue

As well as shipping restrictions, sanctions and inflation, the pharmaceutical sector has been directly attacked, officials say

For Ali Mohseni, the impact of the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran is measured not in missile ranges or battlefield maps, but in the insulin pens his 74-year-old mother needs every day.

Before the conflict, the Tehran resident said, a five-pack of insulin pens could usually be found at almost any pharmacy, but the price has since more than tripled, while supplies have become so scarce that he sometimes has to visit several pharmacies to find them.

“She cannot simply stop taking it,” Mohseni, 32, said. “Insulin is an essential, life-sustaining medication for her.”

Medicine shortages have become an increasingly serious problem for ordinary Iranians, as maritime shipping disruptions, sanctions, inflation, the weakening rial and direct damage to Iran’s pharmaceutical sector strain the country’s drug supply.