General Vahidi: U.S. biggest environment violator, fuels man-made hazards

Pars Today – The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stressing the need to align development with environmental principles, described the United States and Western countries as the main causes of man-made risks, environmental destruction, and the militarization of space.

Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Sunday at the National Conference on Environmental Hazards and the National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran, held at Imam Hossein Officers’ University in Tehran, that development must be aligned with environmental principles.

Emphasizing this point, he stated that development and development models must be derived from the governing principles of the environment, noting that this constitutes a significant part of efforts to control environmental and natural hazards.

Referring to the various dimensions of hazards, General Vahidi said: “If hazards are examined in terms of behavior, dynamics, and composition, they themselves encompass different dimensions. When we speak about natural hazards, it means that all layers of hazards must be taken into consideration.”

He added that earthquakes, land subsidence, subduction processes, and volcanoes must all be examined. When studying the biosphere, he said, issues such as disrupting ecological balance, droughts, or biological sterilization naturally require attention. Tsunamis, ocean movements, river flow cycles, floods, and ocean currents should also be analyzed. In addition, changes in climate patterns, clouds, rainfall, and alterations in the ozone layer are subject to examination.

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC stressed that even now, when the so-called “Golden Dome” is being discussed, it in fact represents interference in and the militarization of outer space, despite existing conventions that prohibit the militarization of space. He noted that whether it was the “Star Wars” initiative that gained prominence in the past or the current proposal referred to as the “Golden Dome,” both amount to interference and a disregard for international conventions and law, aimed at militarizing space—an approach that carries harmful environmental consequences.

General Vahidi described nuclear tests as another category of deliberate, man-made hazards, saying that some large atomic tests conducted underwater have had extremely destructive environmental impacts. He noted that nuclear tests—whether carried out in the upper atmosphere or underground—pose major risks and constitute man-made hazards, most of which, he said, have been carried out by the United States.

He added that when discussing hazards, the primary priority is to identify deliberate, human-induced risks and to remain highly vigilant about them.

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC pointed to pollution in the Persian Gulf, saying that ships and oil tankers generate extensive pollution in the region. He added that these deliberate, man-made pollutants have disrupted the Persian Gulf’s environment and destroyed many marine species.

He went on to address environmental and biological hazards in Gaza, stating that Gaza is a complete example of the deliberate destruction of the living environment and the ecosystem by Zionist and American bombs. He said that people there have been martyred, adding that the wars they launch are themselves a major factor in environmental destruction and environmental hazards caused by Western countries.

Commander Vahidi went on to describe the United States as the world’s largest violator of the environment, saying that the most significant deliberate factor in environmental destruction is the weapons produced by Americans. He stated that the United States is the biggest environmental violator globally, followed by Western countries, due to the weapons they manufacture.