The Leaden Sky of Tehran's Residents

The newspaper Iran has reported with the headline "The Leaden Sky of Tehran's Residents": "The air pollution in Tehran and the declaration of unhealthy conditions for all groups of society entered its sixth day yesterday, prompting the members of the emergency air pollution committee to gather once again to devise a plan for the third time this week. However, despite repeated protests from high school students about not closing schools, which have filled social media in recent days, the air pollution emergency committee once again voted to close kindergartens, preschools, and elementary schools in Tehran and some counties on Tuesday." According to this newspaper, the Tehran Air Quality Monitoring Center also reported the air pollution index for Tehran on Tuesday as 156, indicating unhealthy conditions for all groups of society, but only part of the community was banned from public spaces. Furthermore, the Air Quality Control Company predicted that the air quality in Tehran would be worse on Wednesday than the previous day, while the Meteorological Organization has a different and opposite opinion, even reporting a decrease in atmospheric pollutants in industrial cities, including Tehran, over the next three days. Vahid Hosseini, CEO of the Air Quality Control Company, told Iran newspaper: "If the pollution index is unhealthy for just one or two days, the fluctuations in its levels are not very significant, but when we witness the continuation of pollution for 5 or 6 consecutive days, the situation changes, and certainly, people's health is at greater risk, and officials should pay attention to this and make decisions accordingly." He criticized the non-implementation of some government resolutions regarding air pollution reduction, stating that according to clause seven of the resolution from July 17, 2016, domestic car manufacturers were required to retire one vehicle for every vehicle produced under any circumstances, but due to pressure from automakers, this clause was removed. It was also agreed that the circulation of old worn-out vehicles in metropolises like Tehran would be banned, but this was not properly implemented. The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz criticized the government on its front page for the worsening air pollution in Tehran, emphasizing that "if you do not take measures, then close the schools," and reported that Mohammad Dehghan, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, warned the government by pointing out that "the level of air pollution in Tehran has crossed the warning threshold, leading to a 20% increase in mortality rates due to it," stating: "The government allows the air quality to reach a warning state and then thinks of remedies for it, and it was announced from the beginning that this year's rainfall would be 25% less than last year; I urge you to remind the government to think of solutions before it reaches this point." Vatan-e-Emruz also reported that according to the latest air quality indices, the air in ten metropolises, including Ahvaz, Urmia, Tehran, Karaj, and Qazvin, is in "unhealthy for all groups" conditions, while five other metropolises, including Arak, Tabriz, Sanandaj, Isfahan, and Hamadan, are in "unhealthy for sensitive groups" conditions. The newspaper Ebtekar published a half-page photo of Tehran's air pollution on its front page with the headline "My City is Lost," asking why Iranians are indifferent to the air pollution crisis. This newspaper wrote: "The 6,500 active buses in Tehran, of which 1,500 are in repair shops due to technical defects and are effectively out of the transportation cycle, along with 1,250,000 worn-out vehicles circulating in Tehran, whose replacement with hybrid vehicles is beyond the economic capacity of their owners due to high prices, and the circulation of over 60% of single-occupant vehicles on Tehran's streets, and perhaps the aggregation of over 8 million people in an area of 730 square kilometers, are just part of the factors that have turned Tehran into a gray city." Zahra Dastani in this newspaper's report reminded that "daily, three million trips are made by metro and four million trips by taxi, yet this has not solved the air pollution crisis in the capital. Although the approach of the City Council and the Tehran Municipality during these years of crisis has been to ensure that the distance from each citizen's home to a public transport mode is 300 meters, this has not yet been achieved." The newspaper Ebtekar also quoted Adel Fathollahi Nowshahr, a sociologist and university lecturer, stating: "The feeling of social exclusion will lead to a state where individuals do not react in critical situations when society is in crises such as air pollution, optimal gas or water consumption, and requires collective support and behavior." In such conditions, "the government's efforts to establish and implement factors such as removing political blockages in society, striving for the realization and development of civil society and democracy, developing NGOs, and improving basic issues such as employment and housing have a significant impact on solving this social phenomenon." Valiollah Shojaipourian in the editorial of the newspaper Hamdeli titled "Air Pollution as a Cross-Party Dilemma" wrote: "The most important principle in solving the air pollution crisis is to avoid politicizing and playing with the lives and health of people to achieve party and political goals. The strange headlines of some media opposing the government and the head of the Environmental Protection Organization, which maintained a deadly silence on the disastrous environmental situation during Ahmadinejad's eight years in office, not only do not help this situation but also reduce it to a partisan issue and consequently receive the same level of attention." The editorial writer of the newspaper Hamdeli emphasized that "air pollution is something between life and death for the people of large cities and can only be addressed with a cross-party perspective. This is a point that should be considered by both the government's opponents and supporters of the Environmental Protection Organization." This newspaper pointed out that "in addition to the Environmental Protection Organization, 14 different governmental and executive bodies are involved in the issue of air pollution and its resolution," stressing that "temporary remedies and unprofessional methods not only do not solve the problem but also increase the challenges facing society by wasting time and budget, and relying on winds and rains and divine assistance and closing schools and offices, although it reduces the damage, cannot be a long-term solution to the consequences of air pollution." The editorial writer of the newspaper Hamdeli also noted that "although the finger of blame in this matter is pointed at the officials and related organizations, the role of the people, especially environmental NGOs, should not be overlooked either," and while "the public transportation infrastructure does not meet citizens' needs, it is expected that in hazardous and polluted days, citizens will show more cooperation and interaction to reduce air pollution." The headlines and front-page photos of several Iranian newspapers on Tuesday are dedicated to the air pollution in Tehran, but the newspaper Etemad on its front page titled "The Blue Warnings of Mr. Diplomat" reported that Abbas Araghchi, during a speech at the Strategic Studies Center of the Presidency, stated that "all of the country's diplomatic capacity should be employed to resolve border water disputes" while also taking "internal water disputes seriously." According to this newspaper, Abbas Araghchi, Deputy for Legal and International Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during his speech at the Strategic Studies Center of the Presidency, stated: "Countries in the Middle East are located in a dry region, and all current estimates indicate that we are moving towards water scarcity. According to the provided information, by 2025, 48 countries in the world will be classified as water-scarce countries, of which 24 are in the Middle East, and one of these 24 is Iran. Therefore, simply put, we must say that Iran will be recognized as a water-scarce country by 2025. The disputes currently over water in the Middle East will become more serious over time, and this issue is very serious in Iran." Etemad quoted Abbas Araghchi as saying: "The concept of water diplomacy has now become very broad and encompasses various topics, and this issue makes our responsibility in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs heavier, and we must have a newer and more serious perspective on the issue of water, and it may be necessary to establish new sections in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other institutions to examine the water issue more seriously." The newspaper Habari dedicated its front page to "Iran and Russia Negotiating a $10 Billion Arms Deal." This newspaper reminded that "Russia is currently the main arms seller to Iran," quoting Viktor Ozyrov, head of the Defense and Security Committee in the Russian Federation Council, stating: "Iran and Russia are currently negotiating a large arms trade deal worth $10 billion," and in this arms deal, "Iran is purchasing T-90 tanks, artillery and anti-aircraft systems, fighter jets, and helicopters from Russia." Simultaneously, Kayhan reported that on Tuesday, with the presence of the two countries' ministers, "Iran and China signed a defense-military cooperation agreement." According to this newspaper, "the expansion of defense-military cooperation" and "the exchange of experiences in military fields, especially in training" and "comprehensive counter-terrorism efforts and addressing insecurity factors in the region" are among the provisions of this agreement. Kayhan also reported that Mohammad Baqeri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, expressed readiness for "joint military exercises with China" during a meeting with Chang Wanquan, Minister of Defense of the People's Republic of China, stating: "Iran and China's defense relations have a very good background. He added: The People's Republic of China and its armed forces are very good friends of ours, and the Islamic Republic is fully prepared to develop and deepen defense and military cooperation, including holding military exercises between the two countries." The newspaper Shargh also wrote in its Tuesday issue that following the statements of Mohammad Baqeri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, about Iran's weapons factory in Aleppo, Syria, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the Revolutionary Guards, stated during the fifth anniversary of Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam that in Syria, "it is true that the army of this country is standing and fighting, but the United States has destroyed all the weapon resources of this country, and the ground-to-ground weapons factory built by Iran in Aleppo has been completely destroyed." This newspaper reminded that previously, Mohammad Baqeri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, stated: "Syria has reached a point where in previous years, the Islamic Republic of Iran built a missile industry in the Aleppo region, and in this industrial complex, missiles were produced and used in the 33-day war against the Zionist regime (Israel), and this was the effort and work of martyr Tehrani Moghaddam." Shargh also referred to the remarks of Hossein Sheikh al-Islam, advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and former ambassador of Iran to Syria, who pointed out that the production of missile industry in the region by Iran is not limited to Syria; he said: "The production of missile industry by Iran is not limited to Syria; we have trained and transferred this technology and knowledge as much as we could around the occupied territories, and since transferring a large volume of missile parts is impractical, we have tried to carry out this work as much as possible on-site." According to this newspaper, Hossein Sheikh al-Islam, former ambassador of Iran to Syria, also mentioned in an interview with the magazine "Ramz-e-Odoor" in 2014 about Iran's missile relations with Syria that "the Quds Force worked directly with Assad and had knowledge. Sometimes we could not deliver missiles to Hezbollah on time; Assad would give missiles from his own stock." The newspaper Shahrvand reported in a piece titled "Selling Infants for 15 to 40 Million Tomans," focusing on statements by Ali Talebi, the prosecutor of Amol, regarding the "identification of a baby trafficking gang" in this city. According to this newspaper, "the members of this gang illegally rented out their wombs for families seeking children" and "systematically, after identifying impoverished families and unwanted and illegitimate infants, they used forged documents to prepare birth certificates and identification documents for the infants and ultimately sold them for millions in other cities across the country. Each infant was sold for between 15 to 40 million tomans. It is an extremely profitable transaction, the income of which for the gang members remains unknown." The newspaper Shahrvand reported that the prosecutor of Amol announced the arrest of six individuals, including a government official, in this case, and stated that 26 others have been summoned in connection with this case. The newspaper Kayhan emphasized the teaching of "enemy recognition" in schools and wrote: "There are hands at work to align with the anti-system Western media to dilute the culture of martyrdom not only in the public consciousness but even from textbooks and the educational system." Laleh Eftekhari, a member of the Cultural Commission of the Ninth Parliament, who failed to enter the parliament in the elections of Esfand 7, 2016, told Kayhan: "The removal of the content of the ideals of the Islamic Revolution from some textbooks and guiding secularism makes the enemy hopeful that it will better achieve its demands, and this is where the relevant officials must be vigilant and awake." Kayhan quoted this former parliament member as warning about "the enemy's infiltration into the educational system" and wrote: "The claim that issues related to the Sacred Defense are violent is actually a cover for another narrative that is being imposed on our students."