The head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, Mahdi Pirsalehi, explains that drug prices have increased due to the impact of the war on the country’s petrochemical and steel sectors, Al Jazeera reports.

“We are certainly following up to ensure that insurance budgets are revised. We are inevitably required to adjust some drug prices,” Pirsalehi said.

“We have held negotiations with Parliament and the Planning and Budget Organisation in order to secure an increase in insurance funding so that out-of-pocket payments by the public can be reduced,” he added.

Alongside the price increase, Pirsalehi said the country is also experiencing shortages of medicines, but added that there are no supply problems with “essential and life-saving drugs”.

“Regarding the supply of certain brand‑name medicines that used to come from Western countries, we are facing difficulties, which we are currently working to resolve,” he said, adding that consumption needed to be “directed towards domestically produced medicines”.