West Asia’s war is already an environmental disaster

The bombs, the stranded ships and LPG shortages have made it to the headlines. The acid rain, the oil spills and the carbon cost of rerouting ships remain hidden in plain sight.

Four weeks ago, the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. Since then, much of the world’s attention has been consumed by oil prices, geopolitics and the terrifying question of how far this conflict might escalate.

But there is another story unfolding whose echoes will probably reverberate for longer.

Oil prices may correct once the Strait of Hormuz opens up, but the contaminated water and soil will take decades to recover, if at all they do. The environmental consequences of this war are already crossing borders, contaminating oceans, disrupting long term energy transition strategies and pumping enormous quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

This piece is an attempt to map out the short-term environmental damage that is already visible and why we should all care about it.

Black skies over Tehran

Let’s start with the obvious. The most visceral images from the war so far have been of the sky over Tehran turning black. And then literally pouring toxic liquid over the city.

On March 7-8, Israeli strikes hit four major oil storage facilities and a distribution centre in and around Tehran. Unrefined...

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