{"id":339681,"date":"2025-11-23T11:41:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T10:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=339681"},"modified":"2025-11-23T11:41:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T10:41:18","slug":"irans-lungs-on-fire-wildfires-toxic-air-and-the-politics-behind-an-environmental-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/irans-lungs-on-fire-wildfires-toxic-air-and-the-politics-behind-an-environmental-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Lungs on Fire: Wildfires, Toxic Air and the Politics Behind an Environmental Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A raging wildfire engulfs a forest in northern Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the Hyrcanian forests burn for weeks and power plants burn dirty mazut, Iran\u2019s rulers blame drought and \u201chuman error\u201d \u2013 while land-grabbers, weak institutions and opaque budgets turn the country\u2019s lungs into fuel and real estate.<\/em><\/p>\n

Six-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hyrcanian fires and a poisoned sky<\/h2>\n

On the northern slopes above the Caspian Sea, a fire that started near the village of Elit in Mazandaran Province at the end of October has burned on for weeks in Iran\u2019s Hyrcanian forests<\/a> \u2014 one of the oldest temperate forests on Earth and a UNESCO World Heritage site.<\/p>\n

Officials call the operation to extinguish the fire \u201cone of the most complex in recent years,\u201d citing steep slopes, wind and drought. Helicopters and specialist aircraft were deployed only after two weeks of public pressure, and only after Tehran formally asked<\/a> Turkey and other countries for help \u2014 a rare admission that it could not handle the disaster alone.<\/p>\n

Local reports describe a three-week blaze around Marzan-Abad and Elit that was never fully extinguished, at least 20 injured volunteers, and roughly eight to ten hectares formally recorded as destroyed so far \u2014 small on paper, but in one of the most sensitive cores of a 40-million-year-old ecosystem.<\/p>\n

At the same time, on the plains and in the cities below, the regime\u2019s own health officials say nearly 59,000 people died<\/a> in the last year from air pollution \u2014 about seven people every hour. Power plants across the country have once again turned to burning heavy fuel oil (mazut) because of gas shortages, even as major cities suffocate under smog.<\/p>\n

Taken together, these two crises \u2014 burning forests and lethal air \u2014 reveal not just environmental bad luck, but a set of deliberate political and economic choices.<\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a> News: #Wildfires<\/a> Ravage Iran\u2019s Forests Amidst Drought and Systemic Negligencehttps:\/\/t.co\/oCvE8eMLxl<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n