20% Increase in Tehran’s Mortality Rate Over the Past Month
The air pollution crisis under the mullahs’ rule has reached catastrophic levels, leading to widespread school closures in 20 provinces, a staggering increase in respiratory illnesses, and a surge in mortality rates. This deadly situation, a direct result of the regime’s plundering and anti-people policies, has endangered the health of millions of citizens.
According to regime media, on Saturday, December 6, severe air pollution led to the closure or remote operation of schools, universities, and administrative offices in Tehran and the provinces of Isfahan, Alborz, Kurdistan, Golestan, Qazvin, Hormozgan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Ilam, Lorestan, Markazi, and several others (Rokna website – December 6, 2025).
According to reports from officials and state media, over 200,000 people have sought emergency medical care in the last 10 days alone due to complications from air pollution. The head of the Emergency Organization, announcing these figures, identified Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan, and Alborz provinces as having the highest number of cases. Simultaneously, Babaei, a member of the Tehran City Council, reported a 20% increase in the capital’s death toll over the past month, stating: ‘The mortality statistics from the Behesht-e Zahra Organization… have risen from a daily average of 180… to 220 per day; a 20% increase in one month indicates the catastrophic state of air pollution’ (Mehr News Agency – December 2, 2025).
The state-run Entekhab website revealed that Tehran’s air has been 13% more polluted this year than last year, writing: ‘Since the beginning of the current year, Tehran has experienced 107 days of air quality unhealthy for sensitive groups, 18 days unhealthy for all individuals, 2 days very unhealthy, and 2 days hazardous’ (December 3, 2025).
The same media outlet, quoting an expert, warned that the sulfur content in the diesel fuel at the Rajai power plant is ‘592 times higher than the permissible limit,’ and cautioned: ‘Truly, if the burning of mazut continues in this manner, a massive crime will occur, and people will be officially killed’ (Entekhab website – December 2, 2025).
The current air pollution and environmental disaster is another manifestation of the anti-Iranian nature of a regime that plunders the country’s resources or spends them on suppression, exporting terrorism, regional proxy forces, and anti-national nuclear projects, sacrificing the lives and health of citizens, especially children and the elderly, for its own rapacious interests.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
6 December 2025