Dust Storms Affect Golestan and Mazandaran; Expert Warns Conditions Will Worsen

With the infiltration of dust storms into the skies of the northern provinces of the country, experts warn about the drying up of the region's wetlands, although they do not consider neighboring countries to be ineffective in increasing dust. Mohammad Darvish, an environmental expert, stated that Turkmenistan's contribution to the increase of dust in Mazandaran is only 15 percent, saying: "The entire Turkmen Sahara plain and its international wetlands have dried up. If we do not change our interactions with nature, we will face conditions in the northern provinces worse than those in Isfahan, Semnan, and Yazd." Ali Salajegheh, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, also reacted to the return of dust storms to various cities in Iran, stating: "There are sources of dust both inside and outside the country, but sometimes dust rises from the Horn of Africa, travels a vast distance, and reaches our country." Following the increase in dust concentration and the entry of dust storms into the provinces of Mazandaran, Golestan, and Razavi Khorasan, domestic media reported that the origin of this dust storm is Turkmenistan. Mansour Sohrabi, an ecology and environmental expert, told Voice of America: "The dust storms in Iran have both internal and external sources, but the main issue relates to internal sources, not foreign countries." He added: "The path taken that has led to the drying of Iran's wetlands and has involved many regions of the country and all of Iran in dust storms is due to the mismanagement of the Islamic Republic."