Iran’s Red Crescent has said toxic rain could fall across the country after Israel struck oil facilities outside of Tehran.
A late-night Israeli strike on an oil facility engulfed parts of Iran’s capital, Tehran, in smoke on Sunday, while Israel renewed attacks in Lebanon.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said on Sunday that the war’s effect on the oil industry would continue to spiral, warning it could become harder to produce and sell oil.
A more immediate danger is possible, however, with the Red Crescent warning that residents in Iran’s capital could have chronic lung and skin diseases.
Those in Tehran have been urged not to leave their homes, even after the rain stops.
‘Evaporation of acid droplets from the hot ground or surfaces increases the concentration of toxins in the breathing air by several times,’ they said.
Residents have been urged to wipe down their food – even if it’s sealed – and to replace water filtration systems.
Black clouds were seen over Iran’s capital this morning after the Israeli strikes on key oil facilities.
The strikes hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer centre, sending plumes of smoke into the air.
It’s believed to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.
The conditions became so smoky in Tehran that many drivers were using their car headlights around 10.30am, reports said.
In a statement, the IDF said of the strikes: ‘The military forces of the Iranian terror regime make direct and frequent use of these fuel tanks to operate military infrastructure.’
Some regional oil producers, including those in Iraq, have already curbed output amid dangers in the Strait of Hormuz.
‘When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,’ Iranian President Pezeshkian said.
‘Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression – and it never has.’
State media blamed ‘an attack from the US and the Zionist regime’ at the facility that supplies the capital and neighbouring provinces in the north.
Earlier in the day, President Pezeshkian apologised for attacks on ‘neighbouring countries’, even as its missiles and drones flew towards Gulf Arab states and hard-liners asserted that Tehran’s war strategy would not budge.
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