Iran war news: Burning oil flows through Tehran streets after US-Israel refinery strikes
WATCH: The citizens of Iran’s capital are choking on a toxic smoke cloud and pleading for help as rivers of burning oil set the city alight.
As the Assembly of Experts rejoice after naming their new supreme leader, the citizens of Iran’s capital are choking on a toxic smoke cloud and pleading for help as the streets burn.
Massive fireballs continue to erupt and the sky has turned black after US and Israeli forces bombarded a group of oil refineries on the outskirts of Tehran.
Iranian authorities confirmed four employees were killed in the strikes on Sunday that triggered massive fires in four oil storage facilities and an oil production centre in Tehran and the neighbouring Alborz province.
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“A number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” had been struck at sites used “to operate military infrastructure”, Israel said.
Iran state media responded by saying that it was an “attack from the US and the Zionist regime”.
The strikes and fires have disrupted fuel distribution across the Iran, with Tehran’s governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian saying the city’s fuel supply had been “temporarily interrupted”.
“The problem is being resolved,” he added.
Locals have been forced to remain indoors as the health officials warn of the potential for acid rain.
“The situation is so frightening it’s hard to describe,” one local told The Guardian.
“Smoke has covered the entire city. I have severe shortness of breath and burning in my eyes and throat, and many others feel the same.
“But people still have to go outside because they have no choice. Many places reopened today, but closed again because it’s impossible to stay outdoors.”
Iran’s environmental agency continue to advise residents to stay indoors and the Red Crescent emergency relief healthcare service is advising that breathing or being exposed to the toxic air may cause skin and lung issues.
Food provisions in the city that had already been stretched to the limit with skyrocketing prices and distribution issues now exacerbated by the potential for contamination from the billowing smoke cloud affecting refrigeration and air conditioning.
Meanwhile, Iraqi oil production from its main southern oilfields has fallen by 70 per cent to just 1.3 million barrels per day as the country is unable to export oil via the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran war.
Production from the fields stood at around 4.3 million barrels per day before the war.
“Crude storage has reached maximum capacity and the remaining output after the major cut will be used to supply the country’s refineries,” an official with the state-run Basra Oil Company, which manages production and export operations from the southern fields told AP.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s key oil transit choke points, carrying roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.
The OPEC member’s exports also fell sharply to an average of around 800,000 barrels per day on Sunday, with only two tankers loading because vessels cannot move freely through the strait to Iraq’s southern terminals, the official said.
