Black smoke in Tehran
Soot-covered buildings, cars and roads, towering plumes of thick, dark and oily debris, toxic air searing the lungs, cracked and sore lips, along with burning eyes, this was the landscape that confronted inhabitants of Tehran and surrounding areas last week.
After U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran‘s oil installations, enormous clouds of harmful smoke were released into the air. These hazardous plumes later descended to ground level as lethal black rain, with the emergency becoming so acute that international health organizations including the WHO (World Health Organization) have issued public health warnings.
The IDF confirmed in a statement they had “struck a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” which they believed were being used by the Islamic Republic of Iran‘s armed forces “to operate military infrastructure, including military entities in Iran,” reports Daily Star.
In the aftermath of last week’s strikes, Tehran residents described respiratory problems and burning eyes as oily and jet-black precipitation fell in and around the Iranian capital following attacks on several oil refineries and fuel storage sites by US-Israeli forces.
The strikes took place on the same day U.S. President Donald Trump warned “today Iran will be hit very hard” in a Truth Social post. Ominous plumes of thick, black smoke have been observed throughout various regions in the Middle East as tensions between Iran, the United States and Israel escalate, with the Islamic Republic launching retaliatory strikes against several Gulf nations.
“Black rain” has potentially fatal short and long term health risks (Image: Getty Images)
If the situation continues to deteriorate, Iranians won’t be the only ones at risk from “black rain.”
Experts are issuing urgent health warnings to anyone exposed to ‘black rain’, as contact with the toxic phenomenon can pose both immediate and long-term health risks.
Since US-Israeli strikes on Iran commenced on February 28, BBC has confirmed at least four verified attacks on Iran’s oil facilities surrounding its capital Tehran.
Tehran is home to nearly 10 million people, with millions more residing in surrounding areas. In the aftermath of the strikes on Iranian oil refineries and storage sites near Tehran, residents of the city have reported heavy smog and pollution which they described as “blocking out the sun,” producing an overpowering smell of burning throughout multiple neighborhoods of the capital.
Experts swiftly warned that the scale of pollutants already released into the atmosphere could be “unprecedented” as they emphasized the severe health risks to individuals. The spike in air pollution was reportedly concentrated primarily around the Tehran area, where oil facilities were hit and demolished.
Dr. Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the University of Reading, told the BBC: “What has happened [in Iran] is definitely unprecedented because it’s all coming in from missiles dropping in and airstrikes on oil refineries.”
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Strikes on Iran’s oil infrastructures have led to ‘unprecedented’ health risks (Image: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Leila, a 27 year old teacher in Tehran, told TIME that the air became “unbreathable” following the initial US-Israeli overnight attacks on Iran’s oil infrastructures on 7 March.
She shared: “Today I was in the car for just 15 minutes, breathing this air. I don’t even know what it is, and now I have a headache. The skin on my face, especially my lips, is sore and raw. It burns and feels like diluted tear gas is in the air. It irritates my eyes, and I keep needing to clear my throat.”
Another woman in her 20s from Tehran told BBC Persian: “I can’t see the Sun. There is a horrible smoke. It’s still there. I’m very tired.” Negin (name changed) told The Guardian: “The situation is so frightening it’s hard to describe. Smoke has covered the entire city. I have severe shortness of breath and burning in my eyes and throat, and many others feel the same. But people still have to go outside because they have no choice.”
Last week, following the attacks on the city’s oil infrastructure, Tehran residents reported witnessing “black rain”.
So, what exactly is ‘Black Rain’?
‘Black rain’ is the informal term for precipitation that has become contaminated with elevated levels of pollutants, causing it to appear dark or ‘black’.
Normally, pollutants are ‘washed out’ of the atmosphere during rainfall, but the rare phenomenon of ‘black rain’ occurs when substantial quantities of soot, ash, and toxic chemicals combine with water droplets in the atmosphere and return to Earth without being ‘washed out’.
Dr Deoras told BBC Verify: “The raindrops acted like little sponges or magnets, collecting whatever was in the air as they fell, which is why residents observed what’s being described as ‘black rain’.”
It’s also conceivable that some larger pollutant particles fell from the air even in the absence of precipitation.
‘Black rain’ can happen after fires at oil refineries or oil fields, and can also result from volcanic eruptions, wildfires and industrial-scale pollution. In an interview with the BBC, Peter Adams, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, described how microscopic soot particles were generated in Iran through the incomplete burning of hydrocarbons found in the targeted fuel oil.
The oil fires also produced compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) alongside harmful gases including nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide (which contribute to acid rain), the professor noted.
Health dangers from exposure to hazardous ‘Black Rain’
In the aftermath of the strikes, Iran’s Red Crescent Society cautioned Tehran residents and those in surrounding regions that any rainfall could be “highly dangerous and acidic”, with the potential to cause “chemical burns of the skin and serious damage to the lungs”.
These minuscule soot particles – approximately 40 times thinner than a human hair – can penetrate deeply into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream, possibly leading to life-threatening respiratory and heart problems or premature death, experts told AP. Contact with PAHs could also increase the likelihood of cancer, asthma, pulmonary conditions and heart disease.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned in an urgent statement issued after the attacks: “Damage to petroleum facilities in Iran risks contaminating food, water, and air – hazards that can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions.” University of Leicester environmental epidemiology professor Anna Hansell informed the BBC that “these very intense exposures of particulates have immediate impacts on the lungs”, noting that this ‘black rain’ may also generate “quite long lasting effects over many years afterwards, on both respiratory systems and increasing cancer risk.”
No matter how this catastrophic conflict ends, one thing is certain – it’s always ordinary people who pay the heaviest price of war.
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