Tehran, Iran – As a result of the government’s use of dirty fuel to generate electricity and deal with numerous ongoing crises, Iranians in the capital and many other cities around the country are breathing toxic fumes.
When the power plants run out of natural gas to feed the electricity generators, authorities have for years burned mazut, a sultry residue from petroleum, whenever they run out of it.
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This occurs annually as a result of what experts refer to as ongoing mismanagement and aging infrastructure. Despite having the second-largest proven natural gas reserves and third-largest crude oil reserves in the world, Iran is heavily sanctioned for doing so.
Tehran was covered in thick, suffocating smog on Monday, even though traffic was light as the nation halted travel for a religious holiday.
The capital no longer visible beneath the layers of pollutants, according to footage taken on Saturday from the nearly 4, 000-meter-high (13, 000ft-high) Tochal mountain, which is close to northern Tehran.
تهران دفن شده در زیر دود و آلودگی، از نمای قله توچال pic. https://twitter.com/hpOi8UHtEg
The city, which has a population of about 10 million, is closely followed by Lahore in Pakistan and New Delhi in India as one of the top five polluted places in the world over the past few days.
Early on Monday, the pollution index reached more than 200, making it a “very unhealthy” classification with a high concentration of PM2.5 airborne particles that can worsen heart problems, cause breathing problems, and affect lung function, particularly for children, the elderly, and those with health vulnerabilities.
A “good” index is zero to 50, while a “moderate” is 51 to 100.
Iran’s climate is expected to remain largely unchanged until the end of the week, according to state television, with hardly any significant wind or rain eating as a substitute. As well as high-emission vehicles and motorcycles, wetter inversions, which trap warmer, smog-filled air close to the Earth’s surface and stop it from dispersing, are anticipated to worsen the situation.
Over the past week, the air quality in both large and small cities across the country has been rapidly deteriorating, further putting tens of millions of people at risk from dangerous pollutants.
Tehran, Karaj, Arak, Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad, Ahvaz, and Urmia have all been issued health warnings from the Iranian Meteorological Organization for increased air pollution. In a number of cities, offices and schools have been closed. Despite the dangerous air, Tehran authorities have not yet announced closures.
high costs
As did his predecessors, the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian continues to burn mazut to prevent further crippling power blackouts.
By mid-November, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency, which is connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a staggering 21 million litres (5.55 million gallons) of the dirty chemical product were burning daily.
Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi confirmed to reporters during a press conference on renewable energy and energy efficiency in Tehran last week that because of the winter cold, power plants will continue to burn heavy fuel whenever they are necessary due to the shortage of natural gas.
Without making any mention of the health risks that using the fuel would have, he said, “Mazut-burning power plants are low priority because liquid fuel is expensive and we prefer to use it as a last resort.”
58, 975 Iranians died as a result of breathing in PM2.5 particles during the year that ended in March, according to deputy health minister Alireza Raisi, who spoke to state media this month. That leaves 161 people dead each day.
According to the official, the victims died from heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, strokes, and lower respiratory tract infections directly related to air pollution.
According to Raisi, the government has estimated air pollution to cost $ 17 billion annually up to March due to premature deaths, lost productivity, school closures, and business closures.
Iranian state media had praised what they had called the government’s “brave act” to stop temporarily burning mazut in November 2024. According to the government’s spokeswoman at the time, “calculated blackouts” were used to replace “producing poison” in the situation.
Another subject that caught the attention of the public was the wildfires that erupted across 8 hectares (20 acres) of forest and mountainous land in the northern provinces this week as the smog spread across Iran.
The fires threatened the world’s oldest temperate forest, Hyrcanian forests, which were listed on the UNESCO list.
Source: Aljazeera
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