Iran president accuses US, Israel of causing environmental damage during war

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accuses the United States and Israel of inflicting severe environmental damage during the war with the Islamic Republic, speaking at the UN Climate Change Conference in Turkey.

“The recent criminal and illegal aggression against Iran by America and the Zionist regime… has inflicted severe damage on the environment, releasing massive quantities of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” Pezeshkian claims.

He says that attacks on fuel facilities on a major gas field in Iran’s south “resulted in the emission of approximately 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.”

“The deliberate strike on fuel depots near Tehran led to the release of another one million tonnes,” he adds, calling for mechanisms to hold the US and Israel accountable.

While the specifics of the accusations cannot be independently verified, several oil spills have been detected off the coasts of Gulf countries.

Iran’s foreign ministry has previously blamed the pollution on US military operations in the region, though both countries have targeted tankers in the Strait of Hormuz as they seek to enforce parallel blockades.