Iran haze contains depleted uranium

Iran haze contains depleted uranium


Tehran Times
June 2, 2010

Editor’s note: The U.S. government says the danger of depleted uranium is a conspiracy theory.

An Iranian lawmaker says the haze that arrives in Iran from Iraq is polluted with depleted uranium due to the U.S. military’s use of the prohibited weapon in the neighboring country.

MP Mohammad-Mehdi Shahriari called for urgent measures to prevent the diffusion of the Iraqi haze over Iran.

“This is not an issue that can be easily neglected,” said Shahriari, who is a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

“Everyone knows that the United States has used depleted uranium during the occupation of Iraq, and this has contaminated the Iraqi soil, which arrives in Iran once in a while and pollutes Iranian soil,” the Iranian MP told the Mehr News Agency on Monday.

“The results of this polluted soil will be seen in the agricultural products in the coming years, it endangers people’s health, and its harmful impact could be transferred to the next generation,” he added.

“Silence on this issue could create a humanitarian catastrophe in the country,” the Iranian lawmaker stated.

The aerosol produced during impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites or can be inhaled by civilians and military personnel.

Experts have calculated that from all sources that between 1,000 to 2,000 tons of depleted uranium munitions were used during a three-week period of conflict in 2003 in Iraq, mostly in cities, The Guardian reported in an article published in 2003.