‘US bans on Iran don’t target medicines, but financial mechanisms to buy them’

The deputy head of the Iranian union of pharmaceutical importers says the United States’ sanctions on Iran do not target imports of medicines but the financial mechanisms to buy them.

Speaking to ILNA on Tuesday, Mojtaba Bourbour said Iran could easily buy medicines produced by US firms from their branches in European countries such as the Netherlands or Russia.

“America has not placed sanctions on medicine but our financial mechanisms have been restricted, something that causes difficulty for imports of medicinal drugs. That’s how financial sanctions lead to sanctions on medicaments as well,” he explained.

Iranian authorities have repeatedly said Washington’s strict bans on Tehran’s foreign banking transactions have made it impossible for the country to access critically needed medicine and medical equipment over the past years.

In May 2022, Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, called for the removal of unilateral sanctions on Iran.

She said delivery of medicines and medical equipment to Iran was “severely undermined” by the effects of sanctions on finance, trade, shipping, insurance and over-compliance on the part of foreign businesses and suppliers.

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