On Tuesday, February 4, Tehran witnessed another protest by merchants, particularly food vendors, who closed their shops in response to rising exchange rates, soaring prices, and oppressive taxes. Protests from other oppressed groups, especially retired citizens, also continue persistently.
The enraged protesters repeatedly chanted, “Our enemy is right here,” emphasizing that the real problem is the corrupt ruling mafia that thrives by exploiting the people in every sector, even holding their lives and health hostage.
This was the outcry of the people of Arak, who raised a large banner during their protest, reading: “We have gone from being an industrial hub to a cancer hub.”
The head of the regime’s Food and Drug Administration announced that the prices of 370 types of medicine have increased. Some state-affiliated media highlighted a 400% surge in the prices of specialized medicines, running a headline that read: “Buying medicine has become a luxury; treatment is only for the rich.” They further reported: “The cost of some prescriptions has exceeded 5 billion rials (500 million tomans) just for a single type of medicine, which clearly shows the disregard for people’s lives and the neglect of their healthcare needs” (Arman Emrooz and Bahar News, February 2).
This is just a glimpse of how the pharmaceutical mafia has taken people’s health and lives hostage.
On January 30, the state-run ILNA news agency quoted the head of the regime-affiliated Union of Veteran Workers stated, “Medicine is even more essential than dinner for those in need,” adding: “Medicine is directly tied to people’s lives; the survival of society depends on access to medication. Why are all doors being closed on the working class and the underprivileged?”
The state-run Payam-e Ma website also reported on the pharmaceutical mafia on January 31, stating: “This mafia, by controlling the supply chain, has taken advantage of government-allocated foreign currency and special privileges. By monopolizing production and distribution, it has irrationally increased medicine prices. A significant portion of medicines, instead of being transparently distributed in pharmacies, are funneled into the black market and sold to patients at exorbitant prices. This monopoly and economic favoritism, coupled with weak oversight, have created an environment for widespread corruption.”
The pharmaceutical mafia’s exploitation of people’s health has become so blatant that even state-run media have acknowledged it. Quoting a drug dealer, Tasnim News Agency reported on January 26, 2025: “To be honest, the claim that medicine is unavailable is false. The truth is that medicine exists, but the pharmaceutical mafia withholds it from pharmacies to maximize profits. Instead, they distribute it through middlemen and online platforms, allowing them to charge desperate patients at any price they want.”
“At any price” clearly means draining the last drop of blood from patients. The more critical the patient’s condition, the higher the mafia raises the price of medicine.
The report continues, “I know someone with colon cancer who has sold everything he owns just to stay alive. Familiar pharmacies told him from the start not to rely on them. He found several dealers of medicine, each quoting a different price for the same medication. Over the course of a month, he bought the same drug three times—once for 50 million rials, then for 150 million rials, and finally for 270 million rials.”
Clearly, most people who cannot afford such exorbitant costs, even by selling their homes and belongings, are left with no choice but to succumb to death.
Of course, state media do not name the dealers or identify the pharmaceutical mafia responsible.
But who doesn’t know that Barkat Pharmaceutical Company is owned by the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) and is directly linked to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei?
Who doesn’t know that its subsidiaries, such as Alborz Daru and Sobhan Daru, control the export of medicine to Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Kazakhstan, and other countries?
And who doesn’t know that companies like Samen Pharmaceutical, Tolid Daru, and Sobhan Oncology are controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and EIKO?
Three months ago, dozens of dialysis patients died after being poisoned by contaminated medicine produced by Samen Pharmaceutical Company. State media later admitted that the regime’s Food and Drug Administration had known about the contamination since May 2023 but had failed to warn the public. As a result, “initially, 10 to 12 patients died, then 50, and now the death toll has reached 70” (Khabar Online, November 5, 2024).
The wound inflicted by the leeches and looters of the Barkat Holding Company, owned by EIKO, is still open in society. A wound caused by the pharmaceutical mafia, which pocketed millions of dollars through the production of substandard vaccines, leaving thousands bereaved and disabled. A wound that will only heal with the overthrow of the illegitimate dictatorship of the mullahs, and the dismantling of the regime’s mafia networks and looting foundations controlled by Khamenei’s inner circle and the IRGC.