Air pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems in Tehran, the capital of Iran, and several other cities in Iran, considering its harmful consequences. Statistics show that during days of intensified air pollution in Tehran, the number of respiratory patients increases by up to 60%. The main factor associated with the exacerbation of cardiovascular, vascular, and pulmonary diseases is the increase in pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, suspended particles, and carbon monoxide. As a result, air pollution in Tehran has reduced the life expectancy of its residents by an average of 5 years. According to some environmental experts, the first serious warning about air pollution in Tehran was sounded in 1995.

It is enough to step out of the house for one day and not have a breath of fresh air; the kind of air that, when it enters the lungs, brings a feeling of life to every single cell. But it seems like it has been years since we’ve had this kind of air in the cities. We used to know Tehran for its crowds, traffic, and pollution. When you would arrive from other cities in Iran, close to the capital, you would see the mass of polluted air over the city and wonder, how do people live in this city? But now this question is less prevalent in our minds because Tehran is just one of the polluted cities.

If we review the news, every day we hear about another city’s air pollution. Pollutions that sometimes reach crisis levels and force the city to shut down. Cities like Ahvaz, Isfahan, Arak, Tehran, Mashhad, Abadan, Khorramshahr, and even Karaj have been forced to close schools or the entire city multiple times due to air pollution. And even if they haven’t been shut down, the level of air pollution has reached critical levels in these cities multiple times.

Is it the weather or the inversion of responsibilities?

These days, it seems that air pollution in cities is inevitable. No one asks where this pollution has come from, the only question that is raised is: when will this pollution go away? Why is the air not clean? Why is it not raining?

Most air pollution is related to the fall and winter seasons, when the phenomenon of “inversion” occurs. The mechanism of this phenomenon is that in the early morning and during sunrise, the layers of the earth become warmer due to the collision of sunlight rays, making them warmer than the layers below. As the day begins and human activities and fuel consumption increase, the temperature of the surface air rises. This warm air, when rising and moving upwards or when being displaced by wind, collides with a layer of air with the same temperature, formed by sunlight radiation in the upper layers of the atmosphere, and becomes a barrier to the upward movement and exchange of air. The result is the formation of a high-coverage layer over the city, which, over time and with the increase of urban activities, traps the pollutants produced on the surface and prevents them from rising. Sometimes, as the temperature increases with altitude in this layer, it shows an increase, which is called inversion. None of the pollutants

But before that, we must ask why the volume of pollutants has increased to such an extent. Pollutants that endanger the lives of many people every day.

Where is the source of air pollution?

Whenever pollution in cities is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is the cars that emit smoke in the cities and their numbers increase every day. If we think back to our memories, this childish poem probably remains in everyone’s mind: “Oh how lucky you are, village dweller / How happy and joyful, how pure / In our city, there is nothing but cries and screams / Oh how lucky you are to be free / In our city, there is nothing but smoke and cars / My heart is heavy from this and that; of course, this mindset is not entirely baseless. Mohammad Reza Tabesh, head of the Environmental Faction of the Parliament, said about the causes of air pollution: “The first source of pollution in cities is cars.”

Of course, he emphasized on this point that when talking about cars as the main source of air pollution, two factors must be considered; he explained it like this: in the pollution of cars, attention must be paid to both the structure of their engines and the type of fuel they consume. Many cars produced do not meet the pollution standards and on the other hand, the fuel they consume is also a significant factor in polluting the air of cities.

This representative of the parliament also pointed out that we must pay attention to the fact that air pollution is not limited to Tehran, but today all major cities in the country suffer from air pollution.

The head of the Environmental Fraction emphasized: Our duty as representatives of the Environmental Fraction is to protect the environment of the whole country; we use all our monitoring tools to protect the lives and health of the people.

He added: Representatives and relevant organizations monitor the environmental issues and air pollution and are responsible for their duties; wherever there is a legal vacuum, we strive to eliminate it.

The member of the ninth parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission also stated: After cars, industries are considered the second source of air pollution, although there are other factors involved in pollution, but cars and industries are considered the main factors in the air pollution of major cities.

And this is an issue that a city like Isfahan is also facing. Isfahan, with its large industries operating around it, gets closer to critical levels of pollution every day. This historical city, which is a destination for many domestic and foreign tourists, is now a victim of these large industries and its health is at risk.

The head of the Fuel Dealers Association in Isfahan had said: The main reason for air pollution is the operation of large industries around the city, as the quality of gasoline has improved.

Generating electricity with a cancerous ingredient.

A while ago (19th of Dey), Mohammad Hassan Asefri, the representative of the people of Arak, said in the open session of the parliament: “Due to the existence of the Shazand power plant, the city of Arak experiences pollution for 250 days out of 365 days a year, and there is no commitment to address this pollution in the city.”

This representative reported news of 300 cancer patients in the city of Arak and added: the main cause of this disease is the presence of the Shazand power plant and the pollution caused by it.

He also stated: The Ministry of Oil and Energy, using Mazut fuel in power plants, dumps over 200 tons of pollutants on the city of Arak daily.

The CEO of Shazand power plant also admitted to this issue and said: This power plant is one of the four major power plants in the country that supplies four to five percent of the country’s total electricity and it must be accepted that every industry has a level of pollution.

The Shazand thermal power plant can be considered one of the major sources of air pollution in Arak, as during the cold seasons, with the increase in gas consumption, mazut is used as fuel which multiplies the pollution several times.

The CEO of this power plant says: The decision to use either Mazut or natural gas as fuel for the power plant is not up to us, but rather determined by the National Gas Company.

The liquid of death in the veins of the car.

But how much does gasoline, which is considered by many officials and experts as a major air pollutant, contribute to the air pollution in cities these days? Sometimes there are statements about the poor quality of domestically produced gasoline, which are then denied by other officials.

The CEO of Tehran Air Quality Control Company recently announced the results of the investigation on domestic gasoline: the carcinogenic compounds in domestic gasoline are 2 to 3 times higher than the standard.

Yousef Rashidi, CEO of Tehran Air Quality Control Company, emphasized that without a doubt, poor quality gasoline can have a significant impact on worsening air pollution. He stated, “Samples of domestically produced gasoline have been sent to a research center in Germany for examination.”

He said: In the results of this study, the octane numbers of regular and premium gasoline produced domestically were 83 and 95 respectively, while the global standard is at least 95.

Rashidi stated that the level of carcinogenic aromatic compounds in domestic gasoline is two to three times higher than the standard level. He also pointed out that the amount of sulfur and other impurities present in domestic gasoline is approximately three and a half times higher than the standard level.

Do not take “air” from people.

Air pollution is one of those things that many people easily pass by. It seems like pollution only causes eye irritation and coughing, and sometimes headaches and nausea, and then it is forgotten. Some people even wear masks and go outside, not realizing that the pollutants are smaller than what regular masks can block from entering their respiratory system.

Just recently, Hossein Aghajani, the advisor to the Minister of Health, had announced the death of 4460 people due to air pollution in Tehran last year. A shocking statistic that may make officials think a little more. Meanwhile, there is still no accurate statistics from other cities in the country.

In truth, what should be done to free the country’s cities from deadly pollution? Can we close the gates and stay away from the cities? Or even shut down the city for a few days?

These are short-term solutions that are sometimes suggested by officials; not to mention some interesting actions by the country’s managers; decisions that sometimes were just a joke. Spraying Tehran with airplanes, or even suggesting the use of fog machines were among the solutions proposed to combat pollution.

But in order to reduce the pollution in cities, officials must prioritize rational and long-term solutions. Comprehensive plans for reducing air pollution in cities should be developed by experts and specialists in this field, and all responsible organizations should work together to implement them, as air pollution is a problem that directly affects people’s lives.

Improving the quality of domestic car production and the necessity of monitoring their compliance with pollution standards, improving the quality of fuels such as gasoline and diesel according to international standards, developing green spaces in cities, removing polluting industries from the outskirts of cities, and ultimately developing the quantity and quality of public transportation systems such as subways and electric buses in major cities of the country are among the measures that executive officials of the country must prioritize in order to reduce air pollution. One of the important issues of these days may be the quality of car fuels. After the sanctions, the country faced a severe shortage of the required gasoline, and as a result, many refineries and petrochemical plants in the country hastily started producing gasoline to show that the sanctions were ineffective. However, producing gasoline at any cost and with any quality has only resulted in deadly air pollution in cities.