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US sanctions hit Iranian patients once again

The US reimposition of sanctions is once again disrupting ordinary Iranians’ access to vital medicines and medical equipment.
An Iranian man works at a drugstore at the Nikan hospital in Tehran on September 11, 2018. - Judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague unanimously ruled Washington should remove barriers to "the free exportation to Iran of medicines and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities" as well as airplane parts. Iran produces 96 percent of the drugs it uses, according to the Syndicate of Iranian Pharmaceutical Industries, but imports more than half the raw materials to make them. (Photo by
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Ghazal, a student, was thinking of purchasing Warfarin — an anticoagulant mostly imported from Finland — when a pharmacist in Tehran told her, “You better buy it today, or tomorrow you might not find it anymore." In only a few months, the price of the drug has tripled due to the currency devaluation triggered by the US exit from the nuclear deal.

While US President Donald Trump on Nov. 2 amused his Twitter followers with a "Game of Thrones"-themed announcement of the reimposition of a second wave of penalties targeting Iran’s economy, Ghazal and millions of other Iranians are suffering the real-life consequences of his politics. The US sanctions imposed Nov. 5 add a further burden to an already ailing economy.

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