SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq is the “main cause” of dust storms that have engulfed Iran, an Iranian official said on Saturday.
Iran’s Vice President Ali Salajegheh, who is also head of the country’s department of environment, said Iraq should get benefit from Tehran’s experience to confront desertification and sandstorms.
“We will try to solve this problem in a timely manner,” said Salajegheh, who is currently in Iraq for talks with Iraqi officials.
“Although the phenomenon of dust is the result of a long-term process, we will try to solve this problem in a timely manner,” he added, referring to a previous memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Iran and Iraq.
On Wednesday, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir held a telephone call with his counterparts from Iraq, Syria and Kuwait, urging the regional countries to jointly solve the issue.
The ministers agreed that Iraq’s top diplomat would pursue the issue along with his Saudi counterpart and ask him to participate in the regional initiative to solve the problem, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.
The Middle East has always been battered by dust and sandstorms, but they have become more frequent and intense in recent years.
Thousands of people were hospitalized in Iraq due to the dust storms.
In April, an environment ministry official warned that Iraq could face “272 days of dust” a year over the next two decades.
