“What has occurred in our region as a result of wars of aggression is ecocide, or environmental genocide, and it must be condemned,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at the leaders’ summit of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Yerevan, Armenia, attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Pezeshkian said the conflicts in Gaza and the wider Middle East had inflicted a heavy toll on nature that extends beyond borders and requires “international solutions,” adding that wars burn forests, destroy wetlands and contaminate soil and water, with effects that can last for years or even generations after the fighting ends.
Pezeshkian also stressed that countries under sanctions or facing military attacks should not bear the cost of environmental damage alone. Describing the situation in Gaza as “a real environmental crime,” the Iranian president claimed that the land in the region would be unable to sustain life for many years.
Call for international mechanisms
He urged international agencies to strengthen mechanisms for assessing environmental damage, mobilizing financial resources, restoring damaged ecosystems and supporting countries affected by the environmental consequences of armed conflict. According to Iranian media, Pezeshkian blamed the U.S.-Israeli war on his country for damaging industrial and energy facilities and releasing pollutants.