The head of Iran’s Food and Drug Organization claimed that the halt or slowdown of currency transfers after the 12-day war in 1404 (the Iranian calendar year), was the main cause of medicine shortages in the months of Farvardin and Ordibehesht of this year.

Mehdi Pirhosseini said that during this period, the transfer of money to the country slowed down; so that within a one- to two-month span, this transfer was almost stopped, and in the next four months it was also carried out at a very low speed.

He claimed that the disruption in the process of transferring currency to foreign companies led to a chain of problems over a six-month period and to shortages of medicine in Farvardin and Ordibehesht of this year.

Recalling that “months before, the necessary correspondence and warnings had been made,” the head of the Food and Drug Organization said that “we had said that if the currency for medicines and medical equipment is not transferred on time, the country will face a challenge.”