Mehdi Pirhadi, the head of the Health, Environment, and Municipal Services Commission of the Tehran City Council, criticized regime officials for “concealing the burning of Mazut” in power plants. Pirhadi stated that in 2021, the number of deaths caused by air pollution in Tehran was 6,398.
On December 3, Mehdi Pirhadi said that some might want to deny the reality, but the Ministry of Oil did not adhere to fuel standards, and fuels were not supplied according to the national standard.
While Tehran experienced only three days of clean air last year, Iranian regime officials have consistently denied the burning of Mazut in Tehran province and other major cities in the country. However, according to a confidential report from the Ministry of Oil, an average of 25 million liters of high-sulfur Mazut, along with 110 million liters of diesel, were consumed daily in the country last year.
The daily consumption of Mazut and diesel in the country reached unprecedented figures of 43 million liters and 128 million liters, respectively, even during the past winter.
This official document from the Ministry of Oil also indicated that only 20% of the country’s produced gasoline meets Euro 4 and Euro 5 standards, and every day, nearly 10 million liters of chemicals, aromatics, and the highly dangerous substance MTBE (Methyl tert-butyl ether) are mixed with gasoline produced by refineries to compensate for its shortage and adulteration.
Referring to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, Pirhadi announced that in 2021, the cost of morbidity and mortality was $3.4 billion, and according to him, “this number will undoubtedly increase in 2022.”
Iran ranks sixth in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, releasing 900 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses annually.
Iran’s greenhouse gas emissions have doubled over the past two decades.
As the cold season and severe gas shortages began, severe air pollution due to widespread Mazut burning in the country resumed. Last week, two members of the Tehran City Council identified Mazut burning and non-standard diesel as causes of air pollution.
On November 28, Mehdi Chamran, the head of the Tehran City Council, also attributed the non-standard diesel used by trucks as one of the reasons for the capital’s air pollution. He stated that the level of pollution from this fuel in Iran is a hundred times higher than international standards.
According to official statistics from the Ministry of Energy, power plants in Tehran province generate 31,000 megawatts of electricity annually, with nearly 99% of it produced by thermal power plants operating with gas, Mazut, and diesel.
Both Pirhadi and Mehdi Chamran have stated that out of the 16 thermal power plants in Tehran, 14 of them use Mazut.
Sudeh Najafi, the head of the Health Committee of the Tehran Islamic Council, criticized the head of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization for his statement last week that he could not promise that Mazut burning in power plants would not take place. She accused him of not implementing the “Clean Air Law” and not fulfilling his responsibilities.
She also criticized the Tehran Municipality for its “poor performance” in terms of informing the public and claimed that “citizens” expect the Tehran city administration to solve the air pollution problem, while the main culprit is the Environmental Protection Organization.
Gas shortages in Iran are cited as one of the reasons for using Mazut in power plants, and BP, in its annual report on global energy statistics in July, announced that the consumption of polluting oil fuels in Iran had increased significantly in the past year.
This is happening while Iran holds the world’s second-largest gas reserves, but the Iranian regime does not prioritize public health.
