Earlier this year, the U.S. and Europe toughened economic sanctions on Iran, and ever since we've seen signs that they've been felt. The consquences have been wide-ranging, from Warcraft dropping support in the country, to telecom firms dropping Iranian export broadcasts, and the alleged (and insane) plot to create a massive oil spill in the Strait of Hormuz. But here's one strange exception: the Pentagon is still doing business with Iran, in the form of snake antivenin.It's a side-effect of the military's more than a decade of sustained military operations in the Middle East, and especially Afghanistan, which is home to a number of venomous snakes, like the saw-scaled viper and Central Asian cobra. Because these species aren't indigenous to the U.S., we don't produce antivenins for them. The best antivenins for the region's snakes are produced at the Razi Vaccine & Serum Research Institute, an Iranian governmental research agency, and the Pentagon has been buying serums there (through a middleman, of course) since at least 2011.According to the Wall Street Journal, the miltary has placed orders "orders totaling 115 vials at $310 apiece since January 2011." From the story (paywalled):Medical guidance issued by U.S. Central Command says drugs made by Iran's Razi Vaccine & Serum Research Institute "should be the first line of antivenin therapy" because they counter venoms of the most-common Afghan snakes, said a U.S. officer who has read it.…For their part, the Iranians say they are willing to sell Razi drugs to anyone. "We make this to save lives, and it doesn't matter if the person is Iranian or Afghan or American," said Hadi Zareh, lead researcher in Razi's antivenin department. "We are happy to hear we have saved a person's life, even an American soldier."Prompted by questions from The Wall Street Journal, Pentagon lawyers are investigating whether the purchases violate sanctions rules and require a waiver from the U.S. Treasury Department. "We are working with the Department of Defense to confirm the details of these purchases to ensure compliance" with sanctions regulations, a Treasury spokesman said.In fact, the sanctions are working here too, albeit obliquely. Zareh told the WSJ thatRazi has had trouble sourcing many of the supplies it needs to produce its antivenin, which is done by injecting horses with venom and harvesting antibodies. That's bad news for a World Health Organization-connected institute that produces 95,000 ampoules of snake and scorpion antivenin a year for the region.While this may be awkward for the Pentagon to deal with, it shouldn't blow up into anything more than that. The military's hand is a bit forced here, and we're also only talking about tens of thousands of dollars, not the to companies who defied previous sanctions. So while snake bites are rare, the Pentagon should still receive a trade exemption if necessary. Otherwise, it'd be needlessly risking the lives of soldiers in order to stick to the letter of the law.Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead
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