The news about the deaths of at least 70 dialysis patients due to toxic drugs has shocked the people of Iran. This is yet another crime committed by the Iranian regime, which monopolizes the pharmaceutical industry through a power-hungry mafia.
The first report came from the spokesperson for the regime’s Parliamentary Health and Medical Commission, who said, “Initially, 10 to 12 dialysis patients in Mashhad and Isfahan died after using a dialysis solution, displaying symptoms like brain damage, infections, seizures, and coma. Eventually, the death toll rose to 50, and so far, 70 people have lost their lives” (Mehr News Agency, November 2).
Thamen Company, the sole producer of dialysis drugs, is responsible for this contamination. According to a November 5 report by the state-run Khabar Online, the regime’s Food and Drug Organization reportedly knew about the aluminum contamination and adverse effects as early as May 2023 but failed to inform the public. As a result, initially “10 to 12 patients,” then 50, and now 70 patients have died.
A former board member of the Kidney Patients Association told the state-affiliated Dideban Iran website, “News of contaminated dialysis drugs has just surfaced, but last year in January 2024, a deadly solution also claimed the lives of 10 to 12 patients.” This person, a dialysis patient, added, “The actual death toll is higher than 70, as deaths from peritoneal dialysis occur gradually and might only be disclosed later.”
But that’s not the whole story. Even more shocking is that dialysis patients paid exorbitant fees for this deadly drug. The state-affiliated Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper reported on November 5 that “dialysis patients must pay 18-25 million rials daily or every other day for treatment packages, with some patients undergoing dialysis for nearly 23 years.”
In other words, those profiting from selling this toxic solution are exploiting vulnerable patients to the point of bankrupting their families, ultimately leading them to death.
But the inhumanity does not stop there. According to Khabar Online on November 5, families of the deceased patients are being coerced into signing a “notarized consent” to retrieve their loved ones’ bodies.
Now, with this tragedy unfolded, the regime is working hard to conceal the incident’s scale and erase any traceable evidence. The Ministry of Health claims that these 70 deaths relate to a previous administration, while the Food and Drug Organization states it has implemented control measures. However, the head of the organization also commented: “Thamen Company, affiliated with the Astan Quds Razavi Endowment Foundation, produces dialysis drugs. Investigations from last May indicate that a small amount of aluminum was indeed present in the company’s dialysis drugs, and our analysis confirmed they caused adverse effects” (Khabar Online, November 6, 2023). Still, he does not explain why they did not halt distribution of these deadly drugs during this period.
In any other country, even one such incident might cause a government to fall; but in the Iranian regime, there is no reaction.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, countless lives were lost due to vaccines produced by Barekat Company, headed by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber. Although the Iranian judiciary has “ordered investigations” in these cases, such investigations never yield results, and the responsible parties are never named or punished. This is because all of these issues—from Barekat, affiliated with the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, to Thamen Company, tied to Astan Quds Razavi—trace back to the office of regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei is the same person who, when COVID-19 spread in Iran due to cover-ups aimed at conducting elections, personally banned the import of reputable international vaccines to boost the market for the serum production company under his foundation’s control, at the cost of people’s lives.
These are just glimpses of the crimes committed by the Iranian regime, a regime that Khomeini preserved by issuing a fatwa for the massacre of PMOI members in prisons nationwide. But it cannot escape its inevitable downfall in the face of the people’s fury and the fight for freedom.