In Iran's political geography, children face numerous environmental problems that impact their normal lives, and may even lead to their loss of life as a result of the surrounding environment and the pollutants that now fill their world.
In a statement, Iranian Health Minister Mohammad Reza Zafarqandi admitted that Iran's political geography causes approximately 50,000 children to lose their lives annually due to the pollutants surrounding them.
Zafarqandi pointed out that the pollution surrounding children causes them to suffer from many chest and respiratory diseases, and thus they may lose their lives as a result of these environmental pollutants, especially in the southern regions.
Zafar Qandi emphasized that high levels of air pollution not only affect the surrounding environment, but are also an indicator of a large number of children and the elderly suffering from respiratory diseases that can lead to death.
In occupied Ahwaz, daily weather reports indicate high levels of air pollution due to exhaust fumes from oil refineries and petrochemical plants, as well as weak environmental oversight of these factories and refineries.
It is estimated that some Ahwazi cities are turning red due to high levels of air pollution. Therefore, all precautions must be taken to prevent the rise in infection and death rates from chest and respiratory diseases.
Reports from hospitals in Ahwaz, the capital, indicate that the number of people suffering from chest diseases who visit hospitals on a regular basis exceeds 2,000 people daily, the majority of whom are children.
The increasing incidence of chest and respiratory diseases among children in occupied Ahwaz has become a major problem in light of the poor medical services and shortage of medicines. This may force families to travel to other provinces within Iran's political geography. Consequently, those infected may be exposed to more complications due to the long hours of travel.
The air pollution crisis in occupied Ahwaz is a major problem. Some environmental activists assert that this crisis is artificially created by the occupation authorities, who fail to regularly monitor oil refineries and petrochemical plants.
Evidence of this is that when Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Ahwaz a few months ago, the sky was clear, the atmosphere was bright, and there were no exhaust fumes or environmental problems. As soon as he left Ahwaz, the situation returned to normal, reflecting the racist policies of the Persian occupation against the Ahwazi Arab people.

14/5/2025
media center of the Ahwazi Democratic Front (ADF)
translated by: Abdolreza Savari