“Ahvaz is the most polluted city in the world.” This was the headline news that went on all news agencies last month. A comprehensive report by the World Health Organization on the top ten most polluted cities in the world, in which Iran had four cities: Ahvaz, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, and Yasuj.

Seeing raindrops behind the window and walking under them is one of the things that doesn’t happen often in Ahvaz. According to the reports of the National Meteorological Organization, the average annual rainfall in Khuzestan is less than 250 millimeters; which means, with a population of four and a half million people, each Khuzestani citizen’s share of annual rainfall is two-tenths of a second. This is accompanied by severe air pollution caused by industrial towns, oil refineries in Ahvaz and Abadan, and gas petrochemical plants in Mahshahr and Bandar Imam.

In recent years, toxic, radioactive and deadly dust storms have spread from the deserts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia to the western provinces of Iran. Karim Dahimi, a human rights activist, tells BBC Persian that the use of depleted uranium by the US in the Iraq War, particularly in Fallujah and Baghdad, has contributed to this issue. He says, “Dust and pollution are not a new problem, but it was not as severe before. The main reason for this is the drying up of the Hor al-Azim and other marshlands in the area, but with the implementation of the Karun-Zayandeh Rud water transfer project, most of them have dried up.”

Environmental authorities and representatives of the Iranian parliament have repeatedly spoken about the issue of Iraqi dust and its entry into Iran. However, Ghasan Ashour recently stated in an interview with BBC Persian that he is not entirely sure about the possibility of dust entering Iran from Iraq and called the issue regional. He said, “It is often heard that dust and sandstorms enter Iran from Iraq, but this is not true. For the past two years, with the increase in rainfall in Iraq, the amount of dust has significantly decreased. Additionally, in the border areas of Basra and Mehran, there is no wind that could transfer dust.”

All of this is happening while in the final days of this November, in the always dry and hot Ahvaz, it rained and people poured into the streets with excitement, raising their hands and taking a deep breath after a long time, thinking of the clean air; but unaware of the ammonia particles and acidic raindrops. By the end of the night, more than two thousand people from Ahvaz had gone to hospitals due to difficulty breathing, and this number had reached five thousand by the end of tomorrow’s noon and more than ten thousand by the end of the week.

“Thank God, representative of Ahvaz in the Iranian Parliament, Mr. Mousavi, states that nearly 19,000 people have been hospitalized in the past 20 days due to respiratory problems in Khuzestan province. Mr. Mousavi points out that there is still no accurate report on this matter and says, “The issue is that this respiratory condition will remain in these individuals in the future.”

But the position of the Khuzestan governorate on this matter was different. Asadollah Mousavi, the head of the emergency medical services in Khuzestan province, announced in an interview with Fars News Agency that according to one of the decisions of the Khuzestan governorate, the announcement of the number of people visiting emergency medical centers in this province due to illnesses caused by rainfall is prohibited. According to him, this decision was made during a meeting held on Thursday, November 29, at the Khuzestan governorate.

Amir, a student of industrial engineering at Ahvaz University, said in an interview with Khatt-e-Solh: “On Wednesday, November 28th, after the rain, we opened the windows to let some cool air into the house. After a few hours, my mother started feeling suffocated to the point where she couldn’t breathe anymore. We quickly took her to Golistan Hospital with the help of our family, and there we saw a flood of people who were facing the same problem. The hospital staff was not prepared to handle such a large number of patients, and after about an hour of waiting, we were given an empty bed and an oxygen capsule. The hospital manager came to meet with the patients and announced that it was not a serious issue and would be resolved soon, so there was no need to worry. However, the next day we found out that the situation had worsened and now the provincial government has issued a letter stating that the number of air

He also told us about the government and organizations’ efforts to deal with this issue: “For now, there is no news. The air in Tehran gets polluted in just two minutes, the whole city shuts down for two days, and people here are suffocating, but no one cares. We have become accustomed to these behaviors. The people of Khuzestan have known for a long time that their share from the government and these things is just a dead cemetery, a reminder of the war that they only remember once a year on the day of the liberation of Khorramshahr. The money from the oil barrels goes to other cities for building towers, buildings, and universities, and the pollution remains for us.”

In this regard, Naser Karami, a PhD in climatology, stated during his appearance on the first national television network of Iran: “During the early years of the war, until the time when Khuzestan was under bombardment, no one did anything to prevent these bombs from falling on the city of Tehran. Now, nothing is being done for the people of Khuzestan.”

He continued, “We have talked many times about the air pollution in cities like Tehran, Arak, and Mashhad, which at times may reach twice the standard limit. However, in Khuzestan province, on 30% of the days in a year, the air pollution is 50 times the legal limit.” The environmental expert added, “Currently, 97% of the people in Ahvaz are willing to migrate from this city; because they consider it an unsuitable and uninhabitable place.”

All of this is happening while Ahmad Shahid, the special rapporteur of the United Nations, also mentioned the polluted weather conditions in Khuzestan province in a section of his latest report. He stated in a part of his report: “The weak infrastructure of Khuzestan province is still one of the reasons for limited access to drinking water in many neighborhoods in this province. The Ahvaz water treatment plants, which were built for a population of about 2,222 people according to reports, now support a population of about one and a half million people. It was reported that the water quality in this area is so poor that it is even unusable for washing, and representatives of this area in parliament have expressed their concerns and requested action. After the Ahvaz Water and Sewerage Company did not announce to the residents that they had turned off the sewage treatment plant due to heavy rainfall or that they were unable to treat the water adequately, customers unknowingly consumed contaminated water

Now it is unknown who will answer the desperate cries of the mothers and fathers of Khuzestan. The desperate cries of the youth who want to build their lives amidst the smell of ammonia and the sight of smoke and the constant betrayals of governments. Khuzestan, who has always given the most and received the least. According to the Iranian government’s report in 2012, Khuzestan produces more than 68% of the country’s net income, yet it doesn’t even get its share of rain, only polluted and contaminated air to breathe. The factories that operate without proper supervision in a corner of the city every day, and the result is nothing but more difficulty in breathing for the people. Khuzestan, which even after the war, still dies every day under the bombardment of chemical pollutants.