Iran's Lungs on Fire: Wildfires, Toxic Air and the Politics Behind an Environmental Collapse

[Passages]

Written by
Staff Writer
23rd November 2025

Hyrcanian fires and a poisoned sky
On the northern slopes above the Caspian Sea, a fire that started near the village of Elit in Mazandaran Province at the end of October has burned on for weeks in Iran’s Hyrcanian forests — one of the oldest temperate forests on Earth and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Officials call the operation to extinguish the fire “one of the most complex in recent years,” citing steep slopes, wind and drought. Helicopters and specialist aircraft were deployed only after two weeks of public pressure, and only after Tehran formally asked Turkey and other countries for help — a rare admission that it could not handle the disaster alone.

Local reports describe a three-week blaze around Marzan-Abad and Elit that was never fully extinguished, at least 20 injured volunteers, and roughly eight to ten hectares formally recorded as destroyed so far — small on paper, but in one of the most sensitive cores of a 40-million-year-old ecosystem.

At the same time, on the plains and in the cities below, the regime’s own health officials say nearly 59,000 people died in the last year from air pollution — about seven people every hour. Power plants across the country have once again turned to burning heavy fuel oil (mazut) because of gas shortages, even as major cities suffocate under smog.

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/irans-lungs-on-fire-wildfires-toxic-air-and-the-politics-behind-an-environmental-collapse/

[Duppers]

1. I wish these important environmental issues weren't ignored.

[progree]

2. The article at the OP's link is very much worth the read

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/irans-lungs-on-fire-wildfires-toxic-air-and-the-politics-behind-an-environmental-collapse/

Of special interest

The Elit fire has also revived suspicions that flames sometimes serve as a prelude to “development.” This time, it is not just activists who are raising the possibility.

Reza Aflatouni, head of Iran’s Forests Organization, told state media that initial findings in the Elit case “strongly suggest a human cause” and that investigators are examining “possible connections between the fire and efforts to rezone forest and farmland for private construction.”

The governor of Mazandaran, Mehdi Younesi-Rostami, likewise confirmed that security assessments point to human activity, not lightning or spontaneous combustion.

Even state media have quoted Aflatouni warning about “land grabbing” and illegal construction on high-grade farmland in northern Iran, warning that unchecked conversion is undermining food security.

Environmental groups in Kurdistan say over 90% of rangeland fires in the province are deliberate, often linked to land seizures or military violations; a recent report put the figure as high as 99%.

It would be irresponsible to claim a single, centrally directed conspiracy. But it is equally naive to treat each fire as an isolated accident when:

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