Cartoon 74: Choking Tehran

Air pollution in Tehran, one of the world’s most polluted cities, has been especially severe this week, leading authorities to close many public areas and warn residents to remain indoors. According to the New York Times, “The haze of pollution occurs every year when cold air and windless days trap fumes belched out by millions of cars and hundreds of old factories between the peaks of the majestic Alborz mountain range, which embraces Tehran like a crescent moon.”

While there are no precise statistics on the health consequences of air pollution in Iran’s cities, the World Health Organization and Iran’s own Ministry of Health attribute thousands of cases of respiratory disease and other related problems to the extreme air pollution in the country.