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The US and Israel struck an oil depot in Tehran on March 7, 2026. <\/span>Sasan\/Middle East Images\/AFP\/Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was originally published b<\/em>y\u00a0Guardian<\/a> and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n Israel\u2019s bombing of<\/span>\u00a0Iran\u2019s oil infrastructure<\/a>\u00a0will have major long-term environmental repercussions, experts have warned, as monitors admitted they were struggling to keep track of the environmental disasters arising from the widening war.<\/p>\n Even as Iranians filled the streets to mark the appointment of a new supreme leader, the Shahran oil depot northeast of Tehran and the Shahr-e fuel depot to its south\u00a0continued to burn on Monday<\/a>, two days after they were bombed by Israeli warplanes.<\/p>\n In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Iran\u2019s environmental agency and the Iranian Red Crescent Society had warned Tehran residents to stay at home, warning the toxic chemicals spread by airstrikes on five fossil fuel installations around the city could lead to acid rain and damage the skin and lungs.<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be a real cocktail of chemistry, including significant amounts of aromatic compounds that are known to interact with DNA and have been linked to cancers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n On Monday, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: \u201cDamage to petroleum facilities in Iran risks contaminating food, water, and air\u2014hazards that can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s deputy health minister, Ali Jafarian, told Al Jazeera that the soil and water supplies around Tehran were already beginning to be contaminated by the fallout from the weekend\u2019s explosions.<\/p>\n The black rain that fell across Tehran in the hours after the bombings was a mixture of soot and fine particulate matter from the explosions with rain from a\u00a0storm that was already moving across<\/a>\u00a0the region, according to Dr Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the University of Reading.<\/p>\n \u201cThe airstrikes on oil depots released soot, smoke, oil particles, sulfur compounds, and likely heavy metals and inorganic materials from the buildings, whilst a low\u2011pressure weather system, which typically sweeps across Iran and west Asia around this time of year, created conditions favorable for rainfall,\u201d Deoras said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of atmospheric chemistry, the oil fires produce sulphur and nitrogen compounds that could form acids if they dissolve in rainwater,\u201d he said. \u201cThe risks to human health come from inhaling or touching the smoke and particles. Immediate impacts can include headaches, irritation of the eyes and skin, and difficulty breathing\u2014particularly for people with asthma, lung disease, older adults, young children, and those with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Tehranis reported difficulty breathing on Sunday, as well as headaches and burning sensations in their eyes and throats. But the acute effects of the black cloud that spread across the city could just be the beginning, according to Prof Andrea Sella, professor of inorganic chemistry at the University College London.<\/p>\n \u201cThe explosions will have exposed the local population to all manner of undesirable and toxic chemical species, a problem that is well known to accompany warfare,\u201d he said, explaining that the crude oil will have contained a range of elements, including metals, that would \u201calso be spread indiscriminately.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be a real cocktail of chemistry, including significant amounts of aromatic compounds that are known to interact with DNA and have been linked to cancers. Whether or not this manifests will depend strongly on how long and serious the exposure is of any individual.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now aware of hundreds of environmentally problematic incidents in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cAnd on top of this, once the containment provided by the tanks and pipes is destroyed the material will flow everywhere leaving a mess of harmful material that permeates the soil and coats everything else. There is the potential for contamination of drinking water supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite US efforts to distance itself from the attacks, there are growing fears the attack might spark a tit-for-tat cycle of retaliation after a spokesperson for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps warned it could take \u201csimilar actions [against oil infrastructure] in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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