Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Substandard gasoline is the main cause of air pollution in Iran's Tabriz city, the capital of northwestern East Azerbaijan Province, the province's environment department director said.

Tabriz is second most polluted city of Iran, Hamid Ghasemi added.

Ghasemi said the distribution of low quality gasoline along with older automobiles account for 72 percent of the air pollution in Tabriz, Mehr News Agency reported.

He also added that during the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21, 2013), 22 days were at critical and alarming levels.

Ghasemi further said no measure has been implemented to replace 4000 aging cars with new ones since March 2011.

Iran's capital city Tehran is the country's first most-polluted city.

Since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year, there have been only four healthy days in Tehran, Tehran governor Hossein Hashemi has said recently.

Iran has been banned from importing gasoline based on sanctions imposed by the U.S.

In recent years, air pollution in Tehran and other areas including Khuzestan and Isfahan, reached a critical point. Thus, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has given a special directive to address air pollution in Tehran.

The air over Iran's capital is amongst the most polluted in the world, and experts say many Iranians suffer serious health problems as a result. According to official statistics, currently 12-13 million people reside in Tehran.

The problem of Tehran's air pollution has repeatedly forced the government to declare some days as holiday in the capital due to the high degree of pollution.

Vehicles are the main reason for air pollution in Tehran. Only 40 percent of people in Tehran use public transport, while 60 percent use their personal cars.

Tehran is wedged between two mountains that trap the fumes of its bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Iran's domestic gasoline consumption level is above 70 million liters per day, but roughly a half of this volume is produced based on environmental standards.

Head of the Environmental Protection Organization Massoumeh Ebtekar said in last December that gasoline produced in Iran does not comply with international standards.

Ebtekar accused the government of ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of failing to meet obligations on fuel standardization.

Other major Iranian cities also struggle with air pollution on a seasonal basis.

The fact that some big cities like Isfahan, Mashhad, Arak, Karaj, Qom, and Ahvaz are facing a somewhat similar situation backs up this view.