Iran's Government Fails to Import Ambulances 'Due to Banking Sanctions'

Iran's Minister of Health states that due to existing banking sanctions against the Islamic Republic, the Iranian government has been unable to pay for 800 ambulances from the German company Benz and import them into the country. According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, the Minister of Health, said on Friday, June 29, 'We have negotiated with Benz for the purchase of 800 ambulances, but despite the fact that more than seven months have passed since the prices were determined, due to sanctions and the problems created by the sanctions that require payments to be made through banks, there are still issues in this regard, and we have not succeeded in bringing the ambulances into the country.' Mr. Qazizadeh Hashemi further added, 'There was a problem for the wife of one of our colleagues, where there was a disagreement over the diagnosis of the disease, and ultimately, her case was sent to the U.S. for diagnosis, but when they realized this individual was Iranian, they refused to provide diagnostic services and comment on her medical case under the pretext of sanctions.' The statements of the Iranian Minister of Health come at a time when recent comments by Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, regarding the extent of Western sanctions have made headlines. A few days ago, Mr. Rouhani stated, 'The oppressive sanctions must be lifted so that investment can come, and issues related to the environment, youth employment, industry, society, and drinking water for the people can be resolved.' In response to these remarks, the head of the Iranian judiciary, the head of the Assembly of Experts, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and some other appointees of the Supreme Leader criticized linking Iran's economic problems and issues to nuclear negotiations and sanctions. In recent years, there have also been numerous reports about the difficulties of importing medicine and medical equipment to Iran due to Western sanctions. For instance, Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, announced in November 2013 that due to sanctions, cancer medications, heart disease drugs, thalassemia, hemophilia, AIDS, and other special disease medications have become scarce in Iran. Meanwhile, Alireza Zali, the head of the Iranian Medical System Organization, requested the government on Saturday, April 15, to prioritize 'the problems of drug sanctions and pharmaceutical technologies,' including 'modern treatment methods, especially in the field of cancer and difficult-to-treat diseases,' as a main priority for lifting Western sanctions against Iran. On August 25, 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that in a new decision, the export of hundreds of medical and pharmaceutical tools, including dialysis machines, ECG, and EEG devices, to Iran was permitted. A year after this event, the Wall Street Journal reported, referencing this decision by the U.S. Treasury, that due to problems arising from banking sanctions, the issue of drug exports to Iran has not yet been resolved.