Diapers and baby formula included in the Industry Ministry's list of 55 items subject to hoarding rules

The Islamic Republic's Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade has published a list of 55 items subject to hoarding rules, in which diapers and infant formula appear alongside wheat, flour, cooking oil and medicine. According to Voice of America, which published the news on Monday, 12 October 2026, the list was announced on the basis of the Law on Governmental Punishments and the Trade Guilds Law.

Experts who spoke to Voice of America see the publication of the list as a sign of the authorities' growing inability to meet society's basic needs, and say that the inclusion of diapers and baby formula shows the depth of the supply crisis.

Which goods are covered by the hoarding rules

According to the report, food and agricultural products top the list: wheat, flour, cooking oil, meat, chicken, eggs, rice, pulses, dairy products and tomato paste. Medicine, pharmaceutical raw materials and disposable medical supplies, baby formula, diapers, detergents, household appliances, mobile phones and laptops are also on the list. Cars, tyres and spare parts, and industrial and construction goods such as rebar, steel beams, glass, aluminium ingots, zinc, lead and sponge iron are covered as well.

In the practice of the Islamic Republic's regulatory bodies, keeping goods beyond the consumer's need or in unusual quantities is considered hoarding and can lead to a court case.

A security-minded approach to the market

The head of the economic security police of Greater Tehran has said that combating the hoarding of essential goods is one of this police force's missions and that the issue has received more attention "especially since the war." The same police force had earlier reported a 40 to 50 percent rise in arrests of currency market activists.

The publication of the list comes as Iran's economy is under pressure from war, the collapse of the rial and the US naval blockade. Earlier reports had covered the medicine crisis and the removal of about 500 medicines from insurance coverage and inflation of nearly 90 percent squeezing Tehran bazaar merchants. Voice of America writes that in the face of this crisis the authorities have adopted a security-minded, police-style approach to the market.

The inclusion of diapers and baby formula in the list of goods subject to hoarding rules shows the depth of the supply crisis in Iran.

Sources

• Voice of America