Baku, Azerbaijan, March 5
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has asked all parts of the government to cooperate on resolving the problem of dust storms, Iran's Fars news agency reported on March 5.
Khamenei went on to say that the environmental issues are important and is asking all Iranians to protect their country's environment.
In recent years, dust storms in Iran have raised concerns over the air pollution levels in some cities, raising the particulates concentration to 9 times greater than standard levels.
The capital city of Tehran was affected by dust storms for 117 days during the last solar year (ended on March 21, 2013), ISNA quoted Tehran Province's Environment Department director Mohammad-Hadi Heidarzadeh as saying. The incoming dust has already forced the closure of governmental offices as well as educational and industrial centers in the capital Tehran several times.
Iran's Environment Protection Organization says it is cooperating with the Iraqi side to prevent the entry of dust and haze into Iran through proper measures.
In October 2012, the then director of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh, travelled to Iraq to discuss the issue of dust storms with Iraqi officials and push for the implementation of agreements between the two countries in this regard.
In 2009, Iran and Iraq signed an agreement according to which Iraq should have poured oil derivative mulch on the desert, however the agreement was never fulfilled.
Edited by C.N.