On March 8, 2026, the sky above Tehran, a city of nearly 10 million people, was swallowed by a toxic, black monster. Overnight strikes on major fuel depots — including Aghdasieh, Shahran, and Karaj — did more than destroy infrastructure; they unleashed an environmental catastrophe.
Fires burned for hours, releasing a suffocating shroud of pollutants that turned the morning rain black, falling dozens of miles away. As one resident, a 27-year-old teacher, told TIME magazine, the air was simply “unbreathable”.