Jalal Maleki, the spokesperson for the Tehran Fire Department, announced that there are 18,000 high-risk buildings in the city and stated that these buildings pose a danger to the city’s future.
Maleki also declared that 75 buildings in Tehran are in a critical condition.
Incidents such as the Plasco Building collapse, Gandhi Hospital fire, and Sina At’har Medical Center have raised concerns among the public.
Following the fire at Gandhi Hospital in Tehran on January 25, sensitivity towards high-risk buildings has increased. Maleki mentioned that out of 2,300 medical centers examined, only 1,800 have received certification from the firefighting department.
Since the Plasco Building fire in the center of Tehran on January 19, 2017, which claimed at least 22 lives, until the collapse of the Metropol tower in Abadan (southwest Iran) on May 23, 2022, resulting in 43 fatalities, numerous warnings have been issued regarding the safety of public buildings in the country, especially in Tehran.
In this regard, 129 public and government buildings have been identified as high-risk, according to the Tehran Fire Department. This list includes Boali, Fajr, Yafteh Abad, Fiaz Bakhsh, Ghiasy, Ziaian, Tarfeh, and Shah Abadi medical centers, as well as Shahid, Technical and Vocational University, and Yadegar-e Imam universities.
On May 8, 2023, the regime’s Farhikhtegan newspaper wrote that, based on available information, due to the age, concentration, and density in districts 11 and 12, these two areas in Tehran host the most unsafe buildings and structures. Only in district 11, 129 buildings are considered very high-risk.
Names of compromised shopping centers have also been mentioned, including Aluminum, Alaeddin, Mahistan, Azad, and Champs-Élysées.
These incidents and various lists of unsafe, high-risk, and very high-risk buildings in Tehran occur while Ali Reza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, denies the existence of such a list, stating that our duty is only to identify.
High-risk and unsafe buildings are divided into two categories: old and new. Old buildings need renovation or closure due to their age and the absence of many safety principles and equipment during construction. In new buildings, the only factor contributing to their insecurity is the municipality’s approach in issuing permits, supervision, and reducing penalties for violations.
