Quoting health ministry figures, the ILNA News Agency says Iran has recorded at least 3,409 deaths from AIDS and 2,097 people who have been diagnosed with the disease in the most recent year that statistics are available.

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To date, 20,130 people, of whom 93% are men, have been diagnosed with HIV.

Blaming a shortage of testing facilities and the fear of stigma, the ministry previously has estimated that the actual number of HIV infections is four times the number of registered cases.

Injection-drug use is the most common route of HIV transmission in Iran, the ministry says.