Air Pollution Crisis Hits Iran

Air Pollution
(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): Using fuel oil (Mazut) in IRGC and Khamenei-affiliated foundations, power plants, and heavy industries, the main cause of air pollution in metropolitan cities.

Air Pollution

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported that the air pollution levels are now well past safe limits in many of Iran’s cities. This is just another problem Iranians have to face on top of the devastation caused by COVID-19.

On Thursday, air pollution was critical in 11 cities. This includes:

Tehran, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Zanjan, Karaj, Mashhad, Tabriz, Urmia, Arak, Qazvin.

The air pollution index is now above 200 in some parts of Tehran. Why has it got so bad?

Regime officials warning

The head of the Department of Air Health and Climate Change at the Ministry of Health, Abbas Shahsoni, said that the weather conditions in Tehran and other metropolitan areas were worsening due to the weather and the use of mazut fuel in power plants.

The Arman daily reported that Mohammad Mehdi Mirzaei, head of the National Center for Air and Climate Change of the Environmental Protection Agency, also supported the opinion that the use of mazut fuel and not gas in power plants and factories is one of the main reasons for the increase in air pollution in Tehran and other cities.

Statistics revealed by the head of the Air Pollution Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences said that each year around 40,000 people die in Iran due to being exposed to particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in the air.

COVID-19 pandemic

As with the poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities have taken no action to solve the problem.

The prevalence of COVID-19 is made worse in cities where there are high levels of pollution.

It has used COVID-19 as a way of quelling any protests that may arise due to its mismanagement in times of crisis.

It should also question the regime’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis which according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), has led to almost 200,000 deaths.

The state-run Arman daily said that Tehran’s governor has repeated that no power plant or industry should be using mazut fuel. But the Environment Agency has approved the use of mazut fuel in a few industries and power plants throughout the capital.

Covered up and mismanagement

The regime has covered up the use of this polluting fuel as it has been used for many years. The Arman daily knows that the regime has been deceiving the people and industries. Power plants have burned 5 million liters of mazut within Iran and have exported 15 million more liters to the United Arab Emirates and other countries.

The factories and power plants using this dirty fuel are linked to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and controlled by them and include the steel, petrochemicals, and refineries.

After a report was released in 2017 about the use of mazut fuel by factories protests became widespread demanding clean air. The regime became worried so it passed a law banning mazut and told factories that they must use gas instead.

(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): Power plants burning heavy oil known as mazut have caused severe air pollution in Iran.

Clean air legislation was never implemented

Unfortunately, the clean air legislation was never implemented. No one quite knows why the regime doesn’t want to save 40,000 lives of those who die from air pollution.

The regime hasn’t stopped the use of mazut, even though the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has banned this fuel from being used by ships in international waters.

There is no transparency in Iran so no one ever knows what is going on but the simple fact is that the regime hasn’t bothered to manage and reduce pollution levels.  It puts its own economic interests before the people of the country.

It is now time for the international community to act and exert pressure on the regime to stop its activities, which are adding to the pollution crisis.

STATMENT BY MARYAM RAJAVI

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said that the inhuman mullah regime squanders the Iranian people’s wealth on nuclear, missile, and terrorism projects, and kills the Iranian people through the consumption of fuel oil.

The mullahs’ only concern is to preserve their power. For them, the lives, health, and well-being of the people are worthless.

MEK Iran (follow them on Twitter and Facebook)

and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube