Closure of Banks and Offices in Three Cities of Khuzestan Due to Smoke from Fire in Hoor al-Azim

The governors of Hamidiyeh, Hoveyzeh, and Dasht-e Azadegan announced on Tuesday, August 1, the closure of all banks and offices in these three counties due to the "increased concentration of smoke resulting from the fire in Hoor al-Azim." The representative of Dasht-e Azadegan and Hoveyzeh in the parliament stated that for the past three weeks, the smoke from this fire has affected several cities. According to Fars News Agency, parts of the internal section of Hoor al-Azim in Iran and parts of its external section in Iraq have been on fire for 16 days, with thick smoke enveloping the neighboring cities. The concentration of this smoke has reached a level that all banks and offices in Hamidiyeh, Hoveyzeh, and Dasht-e Azadegan have been closed due to the increased smoke concentration. The report did not mention whether industrial units and factories were included in this closure. The news agency noted that the smoke from the Hoor al-Azim fire in Khuzestan has even reached the Persian Gulf. The fire in Hoor al-Azim began a few days ago, initially 10 kilometers inside Iraqi territory, and has spread to the Iranian section. The Iranian part has decreased significantly over the past week to ten days, but the fire is still ongoing with intensity in the Iraqi section. The representative of Dasht-e Azadegan and Hoveyzeh told the House of Parliament News Agency that "for about three weeks, the smoke from this fire has overshadowed the air in the counties of Hoveyzeh, Dasht-e Azadegan, Boustan, Susangerd, Hamidiyeh, and even Ahvaz itself." According to Qasem Saedi, this situation endangers the lives of "respiratory patients, sensitive groups, and children, and has also caused damage to the livestock sector." He announced the dispatch of four helicopters to Iraq to extinguish the fire in Hoor al-Azim and added that Baghdad "has not sent any facilities or forces to the region and has only issued operational permits that are fully carried out by Iranian forces." As he stated, although "the fire has not been completely extinguished, it has been largely controlled." The representative added that since the night of July 31, the smoke in Khuzestan has "lightened, but because the fire has not been completely extinguished, the smoke has not completely dissipated." He expressed hope that with the continuation of firefighting operations and the current trend, the fire would be completely extinguished in a few days. The southern provinces of Iran have long suffered from air pollution and dust storms, in addition to high temperatures and shortages of water and electricity. This pollution is so serious that, according to provincial officials, it has caused migration from Khuzestan to neighboring provinces or northern Iran. Hoor al-Azim is located on the border of Iran and Iraq and is at the lower end of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which originate from Turkey. The drying of this wetland, both in Iran and Iraq, has increased the number of dust storm occurrences and caused Khuzestan to face dust levels about 21 times above the standard. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, previously criticized the lack of cooperation from neighboring countries regarding the phenomenon of dust storms, stating that this issue "is not related to recent days and years" and that "all countries in the region, including the southern Gulf countries, are grappling with it."