The US’s war on Iran has entered a period that some have called a ‘forever war’. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration makes absurd claims about this not being a war on the one hand and then there is talk again this week of ‘total annihilation’. Uncertainty grows on what will happen next.
The fear of re-escalation into the all out war and the bombings of earlier this year have reminded me of a conversation I had with my aunt back in May in the midst of it all, as I sat in Brighton worrying daily about my relatives back in Tehran.
Contact was very sporadic and limited to short occasional phone calls while their internet access remained blocked. The only way we could speak was by them calling us, but only by purchasing calling cards at an exorbitant cost. During one of the short calls, I heard that my aunts had been to a funeral.
Whose, I asked? Shockingly, it was the funeral of a 12 year old relative who had taken her own life. She had hanged herself using towels in the bathroom while home alone as schools remained closed and her mum, a single parent, was out at work at the local hospital all day.
The plight of children in Iran
The grief and anguish of such an event is, of course, unbearable. Beyond this awfulness, it shines a light on the plight of children in Iran. It’s also a reminder of the wider indirect deaths, which are the consequences of war, conflict and repression. These deaths are systematically under-reported.
The return to war has resulted in more direct bombing related deaths. On 1st September, a US missile strike caused the deaths of four people including two children at a wedding ceremony in southern Iran. This increases the total toll of children killed directly by US attacks. It is astonishing that the US has taken such little accountability for this. The Pentagon is still refusing to release the results of an investigation into the killing of 150 people, the majority of whom were school girls in Minab, also in southern Iran months ago. Meanwhile the UN has reported this month that that attack could have amounted to a war crime.
Beyond the immediate deaths, however, there are also indirect and longer term ones that tend not to be reported, are yet to be counted, and will need to be documented in months or even years to come. These range from deaths due to respiratory illnesses, to disruption to health services, and to the exacerbation of what had already become a growing mental health crisis.
The “black rain” phenomenon
Firstly, attacks on oil and gas infrastructure led to severe pollution and inhalation of heavily contaminated air. In an earlier phone call with my aunt, she told me that she had been sitting at home indoors with a mask on for 2 days, even though all the windows and doors were closed as the black smoke had seeped in. In the same week, the “black rain” phenomenon – a toxic mixture of fuel by-products and atmospheric condensation – was widespread in Tehran.
It is well known that the fine particulate matter resulting from this black smoke and rain can penetrate into the lungs and enter the bloodstream with long term effects. The deaths resulting from this are yet to be counted.
Secondly, in an Iranian context where access to healthcare and medicines were already squeezed by the dire economic circumstances, the disruption to health services is a hammer blow. Beyond the destruction of hospitals and medical facilities, there has been an interruption to infectious disease control and immunisation programmes. There are also the delays to all sorts of other health interventions for a combination of cost and lack of facilities or medicines.
An escalating mental health crisis
Less talked about, but equally worrying, is the escalating mental health crisis which is engulfing large chunks of the population with seemingly disproportionate recent impacts on teenage girls and young women. This has been a trend over a number of years. The suicide of one 12 year old will never be counted as a consequence of this war. The closure of schools, as well as the total internet shut down during the war closed off the few outlets Iranian children and teenagers have for social contact.
In a repressive state offering little hope for the future, if the war results in these remaining outlets being taken away, who will take accountability for the trauma and mental health impacts in the years to come?
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