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The War on Iran Is an Environmental Disaster - ISA
The devastation caused by US imperialism’s war on Iran has been widely documented. The independent Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that as many as 3,636 have been killed there, and in Lebanon, the death toll from the Israeli regime’s ongoing assault has also exceeded 3,000. Besides the immediate loss of life, the war is having an enormous impact on the living standards of millions of poor and working-class people across the world. With the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, an historic energy crisis is under way, which is still far from reaching its peak. The IMF has issued warnings that, without an end to the conflict, it is quite possible that a new stagflationary recession is on the cards – a scenario in which it would be the working class forced to bear the brunt. Another consequence of Trump’s war, one which has gotten far less media attention, has been its devastating environmental impact, at a time of already-deepening climate crisis. This is a war not only against the Iranian and Lebanese people, but also against the planet. While workers face instability and the planet burns, major fossil fuel companies have actually benefited from the crisis – raking in record profits. A War on People and Nature After the first bombs landed on Iran in March, the media was flooded with images of Tehran on fire. This was in the wake of Israeli military attacks on four major oil depots on the outskirts of the city, which left millions of barrels of oil in flames. Iranians woke up to find the whole city shrouded in black dust, the air thick with CO2 and methane, and the sky glowing orange. The level of air pollution was so high that “black rain” fell in Tehran. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the environmental impact of the bombings. Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London found more than five million tonnes of CO2 were released into the atmosphere during just two weeks of the conflict – equivalent to the total level of carbon released by Iceland in a whole year, and equal to the combined emissions of the world’s 84 lowest-emitting countries. Part of this is driven by the enormous fuel consumption required for the deployment of missiles towards and from US military bases in the surrounding region. The Guardian reported that between 150 million and 270 million litres of fuel were burnt in the first 14 days of the war alone. These figures show how imperialism and militarism threaten not only human life, but al...
The pollution that outlives war - upstract.com
War is measured first in lives lost, families uprooted and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble. But there are also deadly consequences that are often ignored. Pollution caused by war can settle over cities, contaminate water and soil, and shape public health long after the fighting is over.…
The pollution that outlives war | US-Israel war on Iran | Al Jazeera
War is measured first in lives lost, families uprooted and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble. But there are also deadly consequences that are often ignored. Pollution caused by war can settle over cities, contaminate water and soil, and shape public health long after the fighting is over. This is the case with the Iran war.The six weeks of bombardment in Iran and the Gulf that saw attacks on energy infrastructure have already taken a toll. Burning fuel tanks send toxic particles into the air, while debris, run-off and oil residues threaten coastal waters and marine ecosystems across the Gulf, where pollution can spread far beyond the immediate strike zone.The region has seen before how long such damage can last. During the 1991 Gulf War, retreating Iraqi forces set fire to more than 600 Kuwaiti oil wells. For months, dense smoke covered the skies, causing widespread air pollution, contamination of soil and groundwater across the Gulf – and a generation of health consequences.The United Nations later treated much of that destruction as compensable harm: Through the UN Compensation Commission, Iraq ultimately paid more than $50bn for damage linked to oil fires, marine pollution and ecosystem loss.Ukraine offers another terrifying example. The ongoing war has created a toxic legacy, with attacks on fuel depots, industrial sites, chemical warehouses and energy infrastructure contaminating air, rivers and farmland across large parts of the country. UN agencies and Ukrainian organisations have documented thousands of incidents of environmental harm since the invasion began, including fires at oil facilities, deforestation, contamination from damaged industrial sites, and widespread risks to water systems.Fossil fuel systems are especially vulnerable in war because they concentrate combustible fuels and hazardous chemicals. When oil depots, refineries or pipelines are struck, they ignite fires that release toxic gases, carcinogenic particles and residues, contaminating surrounding land and water for years.Conflict also erodes oversight. When governance collapses, environmental regulation and corporate accountability often collapse with it, leaving communities living in the shadow of fossil fuel infrastructure to absorb pollution and health harms long after headlines fade.Routine maintenance on oil pipelines, for example, has become difficult in volatile security environments in Yemen and Sudan, resulting in contaminated water and farmland. In Yemen, years of confl...
The pollution that outlives war | US-Israel war on Iran
War is measured first in lives lost, families uprooted and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble. But there are also deadly consequences that are often ignored. Pollution caused by war can settle over cities, contaminate water and soil, and shape public health long after the fighting is over. This is the case with the Iran war.
