US Out of the Middle East!

As part of the Free Palestine Coalition, the Climate Justice Committee supports the struggle for Palestinian liberation. The CJC recognizes the links between US militarism and climate catastrophe and spoke on that topic at the rally.

The Climate Justice Committee condemns the joint strikes by the United States and Israel on Iranian oil storage facilities in Tehran that started on March 7th. These airstrikes caused massive destruction in Tehran—a city of 9 million people. The US Military used unchecked AI to bomb a girls’ school while it was in session, killing at least 170 people - mostly children. The AI had marked it a military base. Just a few days ago the Iran University of Science and Technology was hit in a strike. These are not “precision strikes on military targets;” this is chemical warfare waged on civilians.

Reports indicate the US and Israeli bombing spilled oil into the public aqueduct system used to water public greenery where it ignited and caused a series of explosions. These explosions spread the fires for blocks throughout the city. Massive, black rain clouds blotted out the sun as Iranians awoke to potentially contaminated water supplies. As of Sunday March 8, videos from Tehran show the rain contains oily black streaks. Burning this much oil in a major population center has caused untold damage to the air and water Iranians need to survive. 

Oil contamination of rainwater can cause severe chemical burns upon skin contact, lung damage, and long term health effects. After the strikes, Tehran residents woke up to a city covered in an inky black rain. The Iranian Red Crescent warned Tehran residents about limiting skin exposure to the rain, as well as protecting food products. They stated the rain tested extremely corrosive and could even damage buildings. Our tax dollars are being used to make Iranian cities uninhabitable.

Beyond its human cost, war is the biggest cause of ecocide and environmental destruction. Ecocide is the complete destruction of an ecosystem by pollutants, human intervention, or war. The cost of these strikes to the people of Iran and the entire surrounding environment, compound on each other immeasurably, because what affects the environment affects people. Climate Justice Committee condemns these criminal actions and calls on the US and Israel to cease their illegal and environmentally destructive aggression against Iran.