Students sent home in Iran as air pollution deaths surge

The story: Hazardous levels of air pollution have returned to major Iranian cities with the arrival of the cold season. Schools and universities in Tehran and several other urban centers have been forced to close and hold remote classes.

Officials and the media have expressed concern, with some criticizing the Ebrahim Raisi administration while others blame previous governments. This comes amid reports of a surge in deaths related to air pollution in the past year.

The coverage: Iranian authorities on Dec. 17 closed schools and universities in the capital and other major cities because of dangerous levels of air pollution.

• Classes were held remotely between Dec. 18-20 and polluting factories were told to close.
  
  
• Power plants near the capital were not allowed to burn low-quality mazut fuel, which environment officials see as one of the culprits of the worsening air quality.

The Raisi administration has faced criticism for its handling of air pollution.

• A member of the Tehran City Council on Dec. 20 criticized the government for not providing the necessary budget to battle air pollution in the capital.
  
  
• The moderate Entekhab news site on Dec. 21 highlighted Raisi's underscoring of government accountability for environmental issues during his previous 2019-21 tenure as chief justice. Entekhab asked if Raisi, who took office as president in Aug. 2021, "will [now] prosecute his own administration."

Meanwhile, some have blamed previous administrations for their failure to deal with the factors behind air pollution.

• An official from the General Inspection Organization of Iran, the body tasked with supervising state institutions, called the inability of the previous government to enforce the 2017 Clean Air Law "indefensible."
  
  
• The supervisory organization has been questioning several ex-officials, including a former environment chief.
  
  
• The conservative Mehr News Agency on Dec. 21 described former officials as "front row suspects," blaming them for pollution in the northwestern city of Tabriz.

The context/analysis: Heavy air pollution, exacerbated by a phenomenon known as temperature inversion during the cold season, is a virtually permanent fixture in the Iranian capital.

• Temperature inversion occurs when warmer air rises above colder air. The warmer air acts as a lid, trapping industrial emissions and preventing them from dissipating. Tehran’s geography—being located on plains at the foothills of the Alborz mountain range—makes it particularly prone to the phenomenon.
  
  
• Tehran experienced a prolonged spell of hazardous air pollution in the fall of 2021. The city is home to more than 9m people.

Thousands of Iranians reportedly die each year from complications linked to air pollution, with a 2018 World Bank study placing the death toll in Tehran alone at some 4,000.

• In remarks published on Dec. 11 by Jam-e Jam, an outlet affiliated with the state broadcaster, a health ministry official said pollution-related deaths in the last Iranian year (Mar. 2021-Mar. 2022) had increased by 87% compared to the previous year.
  
  
• The health ministry official said in an interview on Nov. 21 that costs related to these deaths were estimated at over 8B USD.
  
  
• Air quality in Iran further deteriorated this year due to sandstorms originating mostly from Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia, according an official from the national meteorological organization.

Meanwhile, officials from Iran's Department of Environment say that most organizations have failed to implement the Clean Air Law.

• The law, passed in 2017, aims to reduce air pollution by introducing a series of mandates for various private and public sector entities.

The future: Despite the significant human and economic tolls of pollution, little has been done over the years to improve air quality in major cities in Iran.

• President Raisi has stressed to his cabinet the need to enforce the Clean Air Act, but the outlined goals remain far from reach.
  
  
• While the current government has sought to highlight its attention to environmental issues, it is unlikely that the root causes of air pollution will be fundamentally addressed.