Iranians face soaring prices for medicine as the US blockade and
sanctions hit hard
[September 30, 2026]
By NASSER KARIMI and AMIR-HUSSEIN RADJY
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Medication prices are soaring in Iran and some
treatments have become hard to find, leaving patients and their families
scrambling as a U.S. blockade and stepped-up sanctions squeeze the
country's pharmaceuticals industry.
Some medicines have more than tripled in price, further squeezing
Iranians' finances seven months into the country's war with the United
States and Israel. Prices for food and other goods have skyrocketed even
as unemployment has risen and the currency, which hit a record low this
week, has lost half its value.
The war has become an economic endurance test. Iran has tried to push
world energy prices higher with attacks on the region's oil shipping
routes; the United States, in turn, has aimed to wreck Iran's economy by
blockading its ports since June and slapping it with increasingly tough
sanctions.
Iran's pharmaceutical industry is vulnerable because of its reliance on
imports. So far there has been little sign of major shortages of
medicines at Iran's hospitals, but the difficulties are showing at
pharmacies.
Gholamreza Rahmani, a Tehran welder, and his wife recently scoured
several pharmacies over two days hoping to fill prescriptions for four
medicines for their 12-year-old daughter, who was having stomach
troubles. “Each one would have one or two items, not all of them,” he
said, noting that they couldn't find one of the medicines anywhere. The
search cost him two days of wages because he couldn't go to work.
“My daughter’s illness and the loss of income are like scissors, cutting
from two sides,” he said.
Iran's pharmaceutical industry needs imports
Iran produces more than 80% of its medicines domestically, according to
official statistics, but many of those rely on imported raw materials.
Before the war, most medicines and pharmaceutical components were
brought in by sea, but the American naval blockade has cut off shipping,
Bahman Sabour, a member of the Tehran Pharmacies Association, told local
media.
Medical importers switched to more expensive air routes. But that access
has been threatened by new U.S. sanctions on a number of Iranian
airlines, which led to some international flights being halted.
U.S. sanctions don't directly target medicines, but financial sanctions
in place for years also hurt the pharmaceutical supply because
international banks and companies often will be overly cautious and
refuse transactions because they fear running afoul of sanctions, said
Reza Majdzadeh, a professor at the School of Health and Social Care at
the University of Essex in England.
“A medicine may be perfectly legal to sell to Iran, but a bank may
refuse to process the payment,” he said. “A pharmaceutical or shipping
company may simply decide that dealing with Iran is not worth the risk.
... The transaction is legal on paper, but it does not happen in the
real world.”
The Iranian government hasn't said how much medicine production has
fallen. But officials say it has been hurt because airstrikes damaged
more than 40 pharmaceutical factories, including some producing cancer
treatments.
Also, cash-strapped pharmacies sometimes struggle to keep their shelves
stocked. Insurance companies have fallen behind by as much as nine
months on payments to pharmacies for drug coverage because of the
“current situation,” said Mohammad Jamalian, a member of parliament’s
health committee.
Sabour, of the pharmacies’ association, said insurance companies owe
pharmacies about $270 million.
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A man receives his medicine in a pharmacy in Tehran, Iran, Saturday,
Aug. 29, 2026.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
 Supplies are also strained because
medicines are smuggled to neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Iraq, where prices are higher, state media reported.
Pharmacy prices are spiking
“The price of almost everything has gone up, in some cases doubling,
quadrupling, or even increasing sixfold,” said Mina Mohammadian, a
salesperson at a pharmacy in Tehran.
Mehdi Pirsalehi, head of the government agency that sets drug
prices, said last week that the prices of 2,000 types of medicines
were “amended” over the past six months because of inflation and
currency issues.
Ali Fallah, a Tehran resident, said the ointment he buys for
inflammation has quadrupled in price in three months — from 750,000
rials, or about $0.35, to 3.25 million rials, or roughly $1.46. The
minimum daily wage for an unskilled worker in Iran is about 7.5
million rials, or about $3.50.
“I honestly don’t know where this situation is heading,” Fallah
said.
The prices of tablets essential for patients undergoing kidney
dialysis, for example, have climbed by nearly 350% in recent months.
So have over-the-counter painkillers like acetaminophen, if they can
be found at all.
The government appears to be ensuring hospitals are supplied
An employee at one public hospital said there are shortages of key
specialized psychiatric medicines to treat bipolar disorders and
acute psychosis, and more common medications for anxiety and panic
disorders. Doctors have had to use electro-convulsive therapy on
patients more often because the relevant drugs weren't available or
were of inferior quality, she said.
“The side effects for patients are really a lot,” she told The
Associated Press by phone from a major Iranian city. She spoke on
condition that she and her location would not be identified for
security reasons.
Azita Hassanpour, a part-time teacher, said that her mother, who has
cancer, has been able to get her chemotherapy treatments, but
sometimes they are delayed because the medicines aren't as available
as they were before the war. Hassanpour is also concerned because
her mother hasn't been able to get her annual flu shot, with
authorities trying to track down new vaccine sources.
“I am worried that I may lose her because of flu. I weep out of her
sight every night,” Hassanpour said.
Hadi Ahmadi, a spokesman of the Iranian Pharmacists Association,
told local media Saturday that about 700,000 flu vaccine doses were
imported from China and another half million doses are expected
soon. But a jab this year is going for 22 million rials, or roughly
$9, which is almost double last year’s price, though authorities
have promised to provide it to high-risk patients free of charge.
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Radjy reported from New York.
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