Tehran Chokes As World’s Most Polluted City, A Deadly Price For Regime Neglect – OpEd


File photo of pollution in Tehran, Iran

December 2, 2025 
By Shamsi Saadati


While millions of Iranians gasp for breath, the clerical regime has turned the nation’s cities into toxic death traps. In recent days, Tehran has earned the disgraceful title of the world’s most polluted city, surpassing even New Delhi, forcing the shutdown of schools and businesses across 14 provinces. The regime’s own media outlets describe the capital as being “lost in smog” and “trapped in a cage of pollution,” a grim acknowledgment of a crisis that is spiraling out of control.

This environmental catastrophe is not a natural disaster or an unfortunate byproduct of development. It is a crime, meticulously engineered by the corrupt ruling theocracy under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The poisoned air choking Iran’s citizens is the direct result of systemic corruption, criminal negligence, and a conscious policy that prioritizes the enrichment of regime mafias and the funding of terrorism over the lives and health of the Iranian people.
The deadly toll of a man-made catastrophe

The human cost of the regime’s policies is staggering. According to the regime’s own Deputy Health Minister, 58,000 Iranians die prematurely from air pollution-related illnesses every year—a figure more than double the fatalities from road accidents.

This is a public health emergency by any measure. Official reports reveal that air pollution is responsible for:24% of all lung cancer deaths in the country.

28% of all fatal strokes.

30% of deaths from heart attacks.

In total, an astonishing 15% of all deaths in Iran are attributable to the toxic air, a rate significantly higher than the global average. This slow-motion massacre also carries a devastating economic price tag. The World Bank estimates that pollution costs the Iranian economy over $23 billion annually, wiping out nearly 5% of the nation’s GDP through healthcare costs and lost productivity.
An engineered crisis: regime mafias and criminal neglect

The regime publicly blames factors like the “dilapidated vehicle fleet,” but fails to mention that this fleet is the product of a corrupt automotive mafia controlled by Khamenei and the IRGC. These entities intentionally produce substandard vehicles that consume over 10 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers, double the rate of standard foreign cars, to maximize their profits at the expense of public health.

Even more sinister is the regime’s reliance on burning mazut, a highly toxic fuel oil banned in much of the world. In a nation sitting on vast natural gas reserves, the regime has allowed its refinery infrastructure to decay and now forces power plants to burn this poison. This year alone, officials admit to distributing nearly 300 million liters of mazut, deliberately prioritizing power plants near major cities like Tehran, Isfahan, and Karaj. The regime’s claims of using “low-sulfur” mazut are a transparent deception; the supply is grossly insufficient, and the Ministry of Oil has been granted a legal waiver to continue violating standards until early 2027, effectively sanctioning the poisoning of its own people.

This crisis persists not because of a lack of solutions, but, as one state-affiliated expert admitted, a “lack of political will.” The “Clean Air Act,” on the books since 2017, remains completely unimplemented. This deliberate inaction is the regime’s core policy.
A clear choice: terror and repression over people’s lives

While Iranians choke on poisoned air, Khamenei plows billions of dollars into his true priorities: the machinery of domestic repression, the illicit nuclear program, ballistic missile development, and funding terrorist proxies across the Middle East. The regime has the resources to fix this crisis but chooses not to. Other countries like China and South Korea have made significant strides in curbing air pollution through political will and investment, proving it is a solvable problem.

Under the presidency of Masoud Pezeshkian, who has been in office for over a year, the situation has only deteriorated. The number of “unhealthy” days in Tehran this year has increased by a staggering 40% compared to the same period last year. This demonstrates that no faction within the despotic regime offers a solution; they are all complicit in this crime against the Iranian people.

The toxic smog engulfing Iran’s cities is a physical manifestation of the regime’s corrupt and destructive nature. For the people of Iran, the fight for clean air is inseparable from the fight for freedom. The air will only become breathable when the nation is cleansed of this murderous theocracy.

Shamsi Saadati writes for the PMOI/MEK.