Poor quality fuel, vehicles blamed for air pollution

TEHRAN,Dec.22(MNA) – The deputy director of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization has blamed poor quality fuel and vehicles for air pollution in the country’s metropolises. “These two factors, if they are of low quality and substandard, can affect the pollution of environment by 70 to 80 percent,” Ali Mohammad Shaeri told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency in an interview published on Friday. The official also announced that two major Iranian refineries plan to boost the quality of the gasoline they produce to Euro-4 and Euro-5 emission standards by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20. Heavy air pollution due to inversion and the geographical location of Tehran, which is surrounded by mountains, affects the capital on some days in autumn and winter.