Iran says US sanctions halted delivery of two million flu jabs

Iran said new U.S. sanctions targeting its banking system prevented the import of 2 million influenza vaccines, after government warnings that the penalties would hit trade in humanitarian goods.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Iran’s Red Crescent Society said Shahr Bank, which is mostly owned by Tehran municipality and had facilitated foreign-currency purchases of drugs, “has been sanctioned by the U.S. government and the vaccines haven’t reached the Red Crescent.”

The Trump administration last week extended its financial blacklist to virtually all Iran’s lenders, including those used to import medicines and food, trade supposedly exempt from sanctions. It was the latest step in a U.S. campaign to use economic pressure to force Iran’s leaders into renegotiating the 2015 nuclear deal that Washington has left.

The Red Crescent said it was attempting to source replacement vaccines through neighboring countries. Some 200,000 flu doses had been delivered to the ministries of health and education, the organization said in a subsequent tweet, without giving more details.