Living with Tehran pollution is ‘collective suicide’

Smog in the Iranian capital has been blamed by a top official for the deaths of 3,600 people in last October alone.

Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh, the director of Tehran’s clean air committee, told an Iranian newspaper this week that pollution in the city – largely attributed to ageing vehicles running on dirty fuel – had led to 10,000 deaths over the last year and was getting worse.

The official described living in the city and receiving a daily dose of pollution as collective suicide and called for urgent city-wide action.

Most of the pollution-related deaths have been from heart attacks and respiratory problems.

The figures are based on predictions from the World Bank based on recorded pollution levels in the city.

Sam Bond