TEHRAN – The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that damage to Iranian petroleum facilities risks contaminating food, water and air.
On Saturday night, the eighth day of the illegal war against Iran, the aggressors, the United States and Israel, bombarded oil storage sites near the metropolises of Tehran and Karaj.
In a post in his X account, the WHO head wrote that “recent Israeli attacks on oil facilities in Iran could have negative effects on public health, with Iranian children and the elderly among the most vulnerable.”
The official stressed that those hazards “can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre existing medical conditions.”
The next day, rain laden with oil was reported falling in parts of the country, which made the situation even more harmful, Tedros further noted.
The Zionist regime in deceitful and contradictory statements has claimed they had targeted some oil facilitiesthat were exploited for military purposes in Tehran.
The attacks led to massive explosions and the sky was covered in a very thick black smoke.
Meanwhile, the head of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, said on Monday that “Israel should have taken all feasible precautions to avoid or minimize the risks to civilians when targeting oil refineries” in Iran.
“The incidental harm to civilians, including the release of toxic substance, appears to indicate that too little precautions were taken and that the incidental harm to civilians is disproportionate,” she wrote on X.
“The scenes of catastrophe described by Iranians after Tehran’s oil depots were bombed are yet another demonstration that ultimately, whatever they may say, the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran are harming first and foremost civilians, including children.”
According to experts, large scale oil fires release hazardous materials such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, aromatic hydrocarbons, lead and other toxic substances. These compounds can travel over vast distances, even to neighbouring countries, before settling on the ground, endangering lives of civilians and the wildlife.
Long exposure to these poisonous materials will cause breathing, liver, and renal disorders.
Once the fires are distinguished, the remnants of oil penetrated in water can devastate the environment; the pollution affects underground water resources, and agricultural lands, threatening the health of individuals.
A typical example of ecocide
The head the Department of Environment (DOE), Shina Ansari, has called the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on oil storage facilities in Iran a typical example of environmental crime or ecocide which has no justification.
“We are confronting an immoral, environmental war. We have to do our best to keep people safe and away from disastrous consequences of toxic pollutants. The department of environment has already warned people.
We have also sent a letter [the second one] to UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and other relevant environmental organizations, condemning the U.S. and Israel, urging them to respond decisively to these hostile measures,” Ansari noted.
Environmental fallout of aggression against Iran
Aside from widespread damage to air and water quality, the conflict creates escalating waste management challenges, amplifies noise pollution, degrades soil fertility, destroys agricultural land, pastures, and orchards, decimates livestock populations, and exacerbates dust storm occurrences.
The long-term ecological and societal ramifications threaten the well-being of communities across affected regions.
The environment is a silent victim of wars,” stated Ansari, strongly condemning the American-Israeli actions. Unfortunately, the effects of wars persist for years on a land and its nature, she underlined.
“With every explosion, the environment is harmed. Bombs and explosives not only kill and injure fellow human beings but also hurt Mother Nature by sending toxic gases and particles into the air, threatening public health and safety.”
As mentioned by the official, the department has been proactively raising awareness about potential ecological repercussions of the attack, weeks before the war.
Talking to ISNA on Friday, March 6, Ansari said that she submitted a correspondence in January to environment ministers of Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, warning of environmental consequences tied to any military action considering the vulnerability of the Persian Gulf’s marine ecosystem.
According to her, the DOE also formally contacted the Secretary-General of the United Nations prior to the conflict, highlighting that the continuation of military threats in an area with concentrated oil, gas, petrochemical, and maritime infrastructure poses a perilous situation for regional and global peace, security, and the environment.
However, these proactive diplomatic efforts yielded no immediate response. Ansari also highlighted a pre-emptive letter sent to Ingird Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), in January, advocating for a more robust role of the organization in mitigating environmental risks arising from intensified military build-up in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea.
In addition, she underscored UNEP’s mandate as a premier environmental authority within the United Nations, reiterating the need for a proactive and independent assessment of the consequences of increasing militarization, particularly given the ecological sensitivity of the region, the risk of massive oil pollution, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss. These efforts were reportedly met with inaction.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: tehrantimes.com
