The starting age for smoking in Iran has dropped to 13, according to a new Iranian report. Moeen Shirazi, a cleric who heads the Iranian Anti-Tobacco Association, said during a ceremony marking World No Smoking Day, "In the past 20 years the starting age for smoking in our county was about 20 years old. Now, however, it is 13 years old."
During the same ceremony, Dr. Ali Akbar Sayari, the deputy minister of health in President Hassan Rouhani's administration, said that each year, Iranians spend $3.3 billion on smoking. This is the same amount the Rouhani administration allocated for healthcare in 2014.
