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Intel: Why the Trump administration suddenly cares about Iran’s poor environmental record

A general view shows smog over northwestern Tehran November 23, 2010. Tehran is choking. Gridlock on urban highways makes the city feel more like Los Angeles than the Middle East, while adding a toxic yellow halo of smog to otherwise perennially blue skies. Picture taken November 23, 2010. To match feature IRAN-METRO/  REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT TRANSPORT CITYSCAPE) - GM1E6C800LV01

After withdrawing from the Paris climate pact and gutting the EPA, the Donald Trump administration is suddenly obsessed with the sorry state of Iran’s environment.

The State Department’s hawkish Iran Action Group devotes an entire chapter to the topic in its new report on the “outlaw regime,” including environmental exploitation by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quipped that Tehran is “more concerned with heavy water than drinking water” during a Sept. 25 appearance at the United Against Nuclear Iran summit in New York.

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