Mohammad Sadegh Hasannavand, the head of the Air Pollution Research Center at Tehran University, announced the early death of 40,000 people in Iran due to air pollution. In a statement to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Hasannavand added that according to new findings, the average annual concentration of major air pollutants in Iran is nearly three times the current standard and about six times the new standard expected to be released by the World Health Organization in the summer of 2021.
Hasannavand criticized the lack of review of air quality standards in Iran, stating that over the past decade, Iran has been the only country that not only failed to reduce its air quality standards but has actually increased them, as the desired air quality has not been achieved.
It is noted that air pollution, especially in the colder months, has become one of the challenges facing Iran in recent years. In December of last year, the pollution index in some Iranian cities, including Tehran and Isfahan, exceeded the red status and reached purple status in some areas, indicating that it is extremely unhealthy. Many experts and even officials pointed to the use of diesel fuel in power generation stations as a cause of air pollution at that time.
