Intelligence and Interior Ministers Go to Parliament Over “Suspicion” of Arson

The ministers of intelligence and interior are going to the Iranian parliament to answer questions about hundreds of fires that have occurred in the past six days. A member of the parliament's presidium has said that the fires that have occurred are suspicious and should be clarified.

NASA and the Global Forest Watch have monitored 1,708 active fires in Iranian forests and 287 fire warnings in natural areas over the past six days.

According to the Hamshahri newspaper, according to the Global Forest Watch report, which was compiled based on maps from various NASA satellites, Khuzestan province has experienced 579 forest fires, Fars with 301, Bushehr with 190, Ilam with 181, and Isfahan with 156, and in some of these areas, the fires have not yet been contained.

In the natural areas of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Hormozgan, Khorasan Razavi, Tehran, and Kermanshah are ranked next in terms of natural area fires.

According to these statistics, another one percent of Iran's protected forests burned in recent days.

The occurrence of these fires, especially in the middle of spring, has raised many questions. The most important question is what factors caused these fires, to what extent was the human factor involved in their occurrence, and why have they not yet been controlled?

The political and security implications of fires

In the past few days, fires have increased in all corners of Iran to the point that they have raised some "suspicions" among the officials themselves, giving the fire issue a "political and security" aspect, and even dragging the Ministries of Information and the Interior into parliament.

Alireza Salimi, a member of the parliament's presidium, said: "The interior and intelligence ministers will be invited to the parliament to present a report on the fires that have occurred in the country over the past few days."

This member of the parliamentary presidium emphasized: "The fires that have occurred are suspicious and the necessary clarification must be made about them."

Destruction of 60,000 hectares of forest in five years

Iranian officials and officials have reported the destruction of a total of 60,000 hectares of forest in the past five years.

Reza Bayani, Director General of the Engineering and Studies Office of the Forestry Organization, said that between 2015 and 2020, about 60,000 hectares of forests in Iran were destroyed due to fires, pests and diseases, dam construction, road construction, construction activities, and timber smuggling.

New and uncontrolled fires

According to the latest news, the Zagros oak groves of Dalahu in Kermanshah province have been hit by a fire. Chitgar Park in Tehran has not been spared from the fire in the country's hot spring, and "part of Tehran's respiratory lungs has been lost."

Mohammad Nejatipour, the governor of Baghmalek, announced on Sunday morning, June 8, that a fire had broken out in the oak forests of the region. He said that the pastures and oak forests in Mangesht rural district had been on fire since morning. The local official said that the fire had been contained two or three times since morning, but it had flared up again.

The fire in the national lands and highlands known as the Jahrom Oil Well, which caught fire on Friday evening, June 7, 2020, is still uncontained and burning. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

Mehdi Shafiian, the governor of Jahrom, said that the difficult terrain of the area, the wind, and the vegetation have made fire suppression operations difficult.

This is the fifth widespread fire in Jahrom County in recent months.

Smoking and lighting fires near agricultural fields

Ebadollah Nouri, director of the Agricultural Jihad in Halilan County in Ilam Province, also reported a fire. The local official said the fire “occurred due to the carelessness of some people and the proximity of the agricultural land to the Kohreh road.

The director of the Agricultural Jihad in Halilan County has called on people to "avoid smoking, lighting fires, and unnecessarily piling up flammable materials near agricultural lands so as not to witness such incidents."

10 years in prison for setting fires in forests and pastures

At the same time, with many reports from all corners of Iran about forest and rangeland fires, the authorities threatened that the perpetrators of these fires would be punished.

The Deputy Legal Officer of the Forests and Rangelands Organization announced that, according to an agreement reached with the Attorney General, it has been determined that people who intentionally set fires to forests and rangelands will be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.

According to the Iranian Broadcasting System (IBS), Reza Aflatoni attributed the widespread fires in forests and pastures in various regions of Iran to "good rainfall and high growth in vegetation cover in forests and pastures."

He announced the identification and arrest of several people in this regard and said that these people have been handed over to judicial authorities.

Source: DW