Iran’s Environment Chief Calls Oil Depot Strikes “Ecocide”
Iran’s Vice President and head of the country’s Department of Environment, Shina Ansari, has described strikes on oil storage facilities in Tehran as a “clear manifestation of ecocide”.
In a public statement posted on social media, believed to be the first by a state official to explicitly use the term in relation to the current conflict, Ansari described the widespread explosions at fuel depots, which left Iranian capital blanketed in smoke and experiencing what has been described as “black rain”, as constituting:
“...a clear manifestation of ecocide or environmental crime. An inhumane act that signifies a threat to the lives of innocent and civilian humans, who, in addition to psychological trauma, must endure the hazardous environmental consequences of this cowardly war.”
Experts have warned of significant environmental and health risks linked to attacks on petroleum infrastructure. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said damage to such facilities can contaminate food, water and air, posing serious risks to vulnerable populations. Dr Akshay Deoras of the University of Reading told the Guardian that oil depot fires release soot, sulphur compounds and potentially heavy metals that can combine with rainfall to form acidic precipitation and harmful particulates.
The Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) has identified more than 300 environmentally relevant incidents across Iran and the wider region, though the full scale of damage is still emerging.
Efforts are underway to recognise ecocide as a standalone criminal offence at national, regional and international levels. While the term is increasingly used to describe environmental devastation in conflicts such as Ukraine and Gaza, ecocide law seeks to prevent the most severe forms of environmental destruction by establishing clear legal thresholds wherever it occurs, in times of peace as well as conflict.
Read the Vice President's full statement here.
***Update - March 16, 2026***
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described strikes on fuel depots across Tehran as ecocide, citing the impact on the health of the Iranian capital's residents.
Writing on X, Araghchi said:
“Israel's bombings of fuel depots in Tehran violate international law and constitute ecocide. Residents face long-term damage to their health and well-being. Contamination of soil and groundwater could have generational impacts.”