Iran cannot withstand the environmental costs of a escalated war, Mohammad Darvish, head on Environment committee in Iran branch of UNESCO, said following military strikes on Saturday on oil depots in Tehran.
The United States and Israel began to launch military strikes against Iran on Feb 28 as the talks between the United States and Iran on the latter's nuclear issue was underway.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has condemned the U.S.-Israeli strikes on the oil facilities, saying "The consequences of this environmental and humanitarian catastrophe will not be confined within Iran's borders."
Meanwhile, the United Nations also warned that 10 days of war in the Middle East are upending lives across the region and beyond, with toxic "black rain" linked to strikes on oil depots.
In an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Darvish stressed that strikes targeting water or energy infrastructure would bring grave consequences to Iran, which is already faced with serious environmental challenges.
"If the conflict expands to include attacks on infrastructure such as reservoir dams and power plants, it could take years to repair the damage. Iran already faces significant environmental crises. In terms of the severity of land subsidence, air pollution, biodiversity loss, increasing sources of dust storms, and the destruction of wetlands, the country is already under serious environmental pressure. Regarding the rate of land subsidence, Iran is among the countries that are already in a critical stage," said the environmentalist.
"Iran cannot withstand such wars because its land is fragile. This year Tehran is facing a 43 percent drought. Imagine if these already limited water resources were to become contaminated, it would become extremely difficult to provide drinking water for a population of around 10 million people," he noted.
Environmentalist says Iran's 'fragile land' cannot withstand further escalated conflicts
China's first 500-kV cross-border alternating-current power interconnection project entered service Monday, creating the highest voltage grid tie between the two countries and advancing Belt and Road energy cooperation.
The project raises two-way power transfer capacity between the two countries from 50,000 kW to 1.5 million kW, enabling the annual transmission of about 3 billion kWh of clean electricity, roughly 30 times the capacity of previous lines, according to China Southern Power Grid.
As the largest cross-border grid project and the highest-voltage power link between China and Laos, it connects southwest China's Yunnan Province with Oudomxay and Luang Namtha provinces in northern Laos.
Cross-border electricity trading began as the project entered operation. About 4.81 million kWh of power from clean energy bases in northern Laos was transmitted to Yunnan through the new line, marking a more regular and institutionalized phase of power connectivity between the two countries.
It is also the first time an overseas new energy project has participated in China's electricity market, the company said. The power involved in the transaction came from a large mountain photovoltaic project in Laos, one of the core supporting power sources for the interconnection line.
"This project is the cross-border power grid project with the highest voltage level between China and Laos. Leveraging the China-Laos power grid interconnection and the power markets in southern China, surplus hydropower from Laos can be transmitted to China during the rainy season, while China can supply supplemental power to northern Laos during the dry season. This project represents yet another landmark achievement between China and Laos in deepening power cooperation and jointly advancing the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative," said Li Jingru, general manager of Electricite du Laos Transmission Company Limited (EDL-T), a joint venture of China Southern Power Grid and Lao state-run Electricite du Laos.
The solar project has an average annual power generation capacity of about 1.65 billion kWh. In 2026, it is expected to transmit about 1.1 billion kWh of solar power across the border, supporting energy complementarity between the two countries.
"In the future, efforts will be made to further promote normalized cross-border electricity trading, meet the trading needs such as electricity transmission from Laos to China's Yunnan, from China's Yunnan to Laos, and from Laos to China's Guangdong, and facilitate the optimal allocation of energy resources in the Lancang-Mekong region," said Li Minhong, marketing director of China Southern Power Grid.
Construction of the interconnection project began in late February last year. Spanning a total length of 177.5 km, the transmission line includes a 145-km Chinese section and a 32.5-km Lao section.
New China-Laos power link expands transfer capacity 30-fold, boosts electricity trading
