While Smog Suffocates Tehran Bureaucrats Play Blame Games

With air pollution hovering above emergency levels in Tehran amid news of widespread low-quality mazut use in power stations, bureaucrats are scapegoating the public and waging blame games.
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that because of fuel shortage, refined diesel and mazut have been delivered to power plants. 
“This is not a favorable option. The primary fuel source for the plants is Euro-7 diesel, but to fill the gap and keep the plants running, mazut is being used.”
Just like many officials, Zanganeh blamed the public for the high electricity and gas use, stressing that lower consumption can lift the pressure on power plants and reduce their mazut consumption.
Many have questioned the credibility of this narrative. Iran is rich in natural resources and capable of producing and exporting good quality fuel. In fact, Iran has been barred from exporting refined fuel to many destinations by US sanctions. People wonder where good quality fuel is being used and why citizens’ health is not among the top priorities of the government. 
For years, Tehran has struggled with toxic smog in the cold season. The bureaucrats’ incompetence or unwillingness to devise working solutions for solving the recurrent air pollution, which makes people sick and cuts lives, has outraged many. 
Critics believe that the problem boils down to incompetence and the inherent corruption that prioritize everything over citizens’ lives and health.