Iran International
Routine screenings and consultations for Iranian women can now cost more than two months of average pay, as healthcare prices rise much faster than wages and force some women to postpone preventive care.
An analysis published by Tejarat News on Wednesday estimated that a package of common women’s screenings and consultations could cost as much as 518 million rials in 2026, up from 138 million rials two years earlier.
For workers earning the average monthly pay of 250 million rials, the upper-end estimate represents more than two months of income.
“People can’t afford bread to eat. Staying healthy has become a luxury, like studying and going to university,” one social media user wrote in response to the figures.
Mammograms triple in price
The maximum listed price of a mammogram rose from 10 million rials in the Iranian year beginning March 2024 to 30 million rials in the year beginning March 2026, according to Tejarat News.
That represents a threefold increase in two years for an imaging procedure commonly used to screen for and detect breast cancer.
Ultrasound examinations have also become considerably more expensive. The maximum cost of a transvaginal ultrasound increased by about 80 percent in two years, while an ultrasound of the uterus and ovaries rose from 18 million to 44 million rials, an increase of more than 140 percent.
Pap smears showed an even steeper increase at the upper end of the reported range, with the maximum listed price rising from 9 million rials in 2024 to more than 130 million rials in 2026.
Tejarat News cautioned that the highest figure should not be treated as a typical nationwide price, with testing methods, accompanying services and providers producing substantial differences in the final cost.
Official tariffs for visits to gynecologists have also risen. A specialist consultation increased from just under 2 million to 5 million rials between 2024 and 2026.
The figures are based on tariffs approved by Iran’s Health Ministry, though Tejarat News said many specialists charge more than the official rates.
Healthcare prices outpace wages
The increases come as Iranian households contend with rapidly rising living costs and a sharp decline in the value of the rial.
The currency has lost around three-quarters of its value against the dollar since March 2024, while annual pay increases for many salaried workers have been around 20 percent. As a result, wages have failed to keep pace with the rising cost of many goods and services.
The burden has particular implications for women, according to journalist Roghayeh Rezaei, who pointed to a contradiction between rising healthcare costs and government policies encouraging women to have more children while restricting access to contraception.
“The issue is no longer simply a woman’s body and her own personal choices. It is a political body that the Islamic Republic uses ideologically,” Rezaei told Iran International.
She said women were expected to serve the state’s population policies while being left to bear much of the financial burden of examinations and treatment.
The problem is particularly acute for women who must choose between preventive healthcare and other household necessities, she said.
“There are women in Iran who see that if they get a Pap smear or a mammogram, they have to take money away from feeding their children,” Rezaei said. “They postpone these tests.”
‘Just don’t live at all’
Rezaei said doctors had described patients, particularly from poorer and more marginalized groups, delaying medical care until their conditions became more serious because they could not afford treatment.
The Tejarat News estimate also excludes medicines, additional laboratory tests, transportation, sanitary products and other medical expenses.
The healthcare figures also prompted broader expressions of frustration over living costs on social media.
One user listed expenses people are increasingly expected to cut, including fuel, restaurants, meat, chicken, shoes and other purchases.
“Just don’t live at all, only so the clerics can rule for two more days,” the user wrote.
The Houthi advance, the prospect of a protracted US-Iran conflict and renewed international pressure over Tehran’s nuclear program emerged as the three most consequential developments of the day, pointing to a war expanding geographically, placing sustained pressure on US military resources and further threatening global energy supplies.
Three Yemeni government sources told Reuters that the Houthis had taken control of Mocha, a strategically located city on Yemen’s Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab strait, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
The capture marked a significant territorial advance by the group, which already controls Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and some of the country’s populous north. It followed a new series of Houthi missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia, bringing another major US ally more directly into the conflict.
The Saudi-led coalition said the Houthis attacked Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan on Wednesday using ballistic missiles and drones. Saudi authorities issued an early warning in Khamis Mushait on Thursday morning before later announcing that the danger had passed.
Major General Turki al-Maliki, the coalition’s spokesperson, said the Houthis were continuing their attacks on Saudi “national assets and infrastructure.” He said the coalition would respond “responsibly” in defense of Saudi sovereignty, civilians and national resources.
The attacks have also tested the Mecca agreement signed last month by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry described the accord on Thursday as a “defensive alliance” but said there were no plans to expand it.
“There is no such thing under discussion right now,” ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said when asked how Islamabad would meet its obligations following the Houthi attacks. “When the time comes, we will act under the agreement.”
Tehran rejected US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assertion that Iran was behind the attacks. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the Houthis, formally known as Ansarallah, made their own decisions.
“Ansarallah is an independent Yemeni actor that makes its own decisions; it takes orders from no one and acts as nobody’s proxy,” Baghaei said.
Rubio had said that the Houthis were “in many ways agents and proxies of the Iranians” and that “behind some of this is clearly the Iranian hand.”
The developments in Yemen unfolded as top US officials privately considered the possibility that the war with Iran could last considerably longer than Trump has suggested publicly.
Vice President JD Vance, Rubio and other senior advisers have discussed with Trump the possibility that Tehran could continue resisting the US naval blockade, sanctions and military pressure through the end of his presidential term and potentially beyond January 2029, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.
Those assessments contrast sharply with Trump’s public insistence that Iran cannot withstand US pressure much longer. Trump said Wednesday that the war would end “immediately” after November’s congressional elections because Iran “can’t hold out any longer.”
At a Republican event in Dallas, Trump said Iran was “falling apart” and was no longer the dominant power it once was in the Middle East.
“They’ve been the bully of the Middle East for 51 years, and they’re not the bully anymore,” Trump said.
The Journal reported that a prolonged war would strain American military resources and extend disruption to global oil markets. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has already extended some US deployments in the Middle East into 2027, while some air-defense units are expected to remain in the region without a firm departure date, according to the report.
The military risks were underlined by reported damage to US aircraft at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan following Iranian strikes overnight.
One A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft was left missing a wing and around eight F-15 fighter jets sustained light damage, CBS reported. The F-15s were subsequently returned to service. US forces defending the base launched more than 30 Patriot interceptor missiles during the Iranian attack, according to the report.
Iran said it attacked the base in Jordan as well as US vessels after the United States targeted Iranian oil tankers. US Central Command denied that any American warship had been struck, saying all attempted IRGC attacks against US naval vessels had failed.
The intensifying attacks on military installations, tankers and shipping routes have heightened fears of a prolonged disruption to energy markets.
Only seven vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from 12 the previous day and half the recent daily average of 14, Reuters reported, citing preliminary ship-tracking data. Some vessels may have crossed with their transponders turned off and would not have appeared in the figures.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs warned that escalating attacks in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea could drive Brent crude above $120 a barrel, CBS reported.
Trump said oil prices would decline once the United States defeated Iran.
“Oil will be going down as soon as we win the war with Iran, which is taking place right now,” he said.
The third major source of pressure on Tehran came from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors, which reported Iran to the UN Security Council over breaches of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations -the first such action against the country since 2006.
Iranian officials signaled that Tehran could respond by reducing its already limited cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Iran had the right to adopt “special measures” in response to the resolution and reserved the option of taking any action it deemed necessary, lawmaker Somayeh Rafiei said.
“It is natural for Iran to seek a review and reassessment of any further cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency or any other institution in the nuclear field,” said Rafiei, a member of parliament’s presiding board.
The confrontation over inspections comes amid renewed scrutiny of construction at Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried complex near Iran’s Natanz uranium-enrichment facility.
A satellite-imagery analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found a sharp increase in activity at the site during 2026. The work included hardening tunnel entrances, paving internal roads, reinforcing access points and removing soil excavated from inside the mountain.
CSIS said the site appeared to have moved from large-scale excavation toward probable internal construction and further external reinforcement. Its analysts said open-source imagery could neither confirm nor disprove assessments that Iran had transferred centrifuges to the facility.
As diplomatic and military pressure grew, Iran sought to project resilience and signal that it was replenishing its defensive capabilities.
Reuters reported that Tehran routed an estimated $2 billion to $2.5 billion through a China-based trade mechanism during the past year, using proceeds from oil sales to pay for Chinese goods without transferring money through the international banking system.
The barter-like arrangement was used to acquire medicine, vehicles and communications equipment and was also connected to contracts worth millions of dollars for Chinese air-defense equipment, Reuters reported, citing two senior Iranian sources and three other people familiar with the system.
Iran’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the country’s military industry remained operational and was “stronger, smarter and more advanced than before.”
“You will soon see a glimpse of the tip of this iceberg,” the ministry said, without identifying the capabilities.
Iranian lawmakers and commanders issued similar warnings. Alireza Salimi, a member of parliament’s presiding board, said Iran possessed “many military surprises” known to the United States.
“If they continue their actions, we will make them regret it,” Salimi said.
The combination of expanding Houthi operations, preparations in Washington for a potentially multiyear conflict and mounting confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program suggested little immediate prospect of de-escalation.
With fighting spreading across the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, the risks increasingly extend beyond the direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
The published notice did not explain what the committee report contained or specify which parts of it the government opposed.
The cabinet took the decision at an August 23 meeting and it was formally communicated on September 8 by Iran's first vice president, IRNA said, citing the country's national database of laws and regulations.
The cabinet named the president's legal affairs office and the presidential office for science, technology and the knowledge-based economy as government representatives in the matter, IRNA said.
Bill has drawn criticism over broad reach
Parliament approved the general principles of legislation on combating foreign infiltration in August by 183 votes to four, but lawmakers have yet to complete consideration of its individual provisions.
A publicly circulated draft would impose new restrictions on contacts with foreign media, universities, embassies and international organizations and give the Intelligence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization roles in identifying prohibited foreign links.
Some provisions would restrict sharing information with foreign institutions and certain forms of academic, cultural and civil-society cooperation.
Critics in Iran have warned that the broad wording could expose journalists, academics, researchers and other citizens to prosecution.
The notice did not say whether the cabinet opposed the legislation as a whole or only aspects of the parliamentary committee's report.
Pezeshkian government had raised rights concerns
The decision follows earlier public opposition from President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration. Vice President for Legal Affairs Majid Ansari said in August that the proposal conflicted with constitutional protections for citizens' rights and individual freedoms and would sharply restrict academic contacts with institutions abroad.
"If every type of contact and communication faces restrictions and is criminalized by law, naturally they will prefer to migrate and carry out their scientific and research activities in a free environment," Ansari said, warning that the measure could drive more Iranian researchers, doctors and academics to leave the country.
