Iran was forbidden to acquire gas masks in the past

 Was there a time when Iran was blocked from acquiring gas masks?

Yes, Iran was heavily restricted and effectively blocked from acquiring legitimate military-grade gas masks due to strict international weapons embargoes and sanctions during the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988). [1]

Despite being subjected to massive, systematic Iraqi chemical weapons attacks—including mustard gas and nerve agents—the international community strictly enforced embargoes on Iran, treating defensive military equipment like gas masks as dual-use or restricted military goods. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Cost of the Embargo

Because Western nations and major suppliers blocked direct military sales to Iran, the country was completely unprepared for chemical warfare. This blockade forced Iran to rely on desperate, flawed alternatives: [1, 2]

• Commercial Substitution: Iran had to bypass military channels to purchase commercial spray-painting respirators and goggles from the West, which offered little to no protection against deadly military gases. [1, 2]
• Defective Foreign Purchases: In 1984, trying to circumvent the blockade, Iran purchased masks from South Korea (which didn't fit properly and had filters that failed after 15 minutes). They also bought 5,000 cheap units from East Germany that turned out to be completely useless industrial painting goggles rather than gas masks. [1]
• Smuggling Components: By 1986, Iranian diplomats were forced to covertly travel across Europe just to buy active charcoal and filter models to try and figure out how to build their own defensive gear. They did not achieve domestic gas mask production until April 1988. [1]

Contemporary Sanctions Context

The precedent of blocking protective and medical equipment via broad sanctions has triggered modern controversies as well. For instance: [1]

• The COVID-19 Pandemic: In 2020, Iranian officials publicly stated that sweeping U.S. financial sanctions disrupted their banking access, blocking the delivery of millions of protective respiratory face masks they had purchased from the United Kingdom to combat the virus. [1]