Ecocide: Neighbourhoods targeted in airstrikes reportedly carried out by US and Israeli fighter jets in March 2026. Photo: Behnam tofighi
As missiles, drones and military convoys dominate coverage of the unfolding US-Israel war with Iran, another, slower form of destruction is taking shape — one that threatens ecosystems, water, soil, air and the climate itself.
For Reverend Rachel Mash, the environmental coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, the environmental cost of war is inseparable from human suffering.
“War is a long-term devastation on a population; you are destroying something for generations ahead, even two, three, four generations,” she said.
One of the most striking environmental phenomena linked to the conflict is the emergence of black rain over Tehran after airstrikes on fuel depots and oil facilities. Black rain occurs when soot and toxic particulates rise into the atmosphere and fall with rain, carrying hazardous chemicals into soil, water systems and urban surfaces.
In March, satellite and witness reports documented blackened rainwater and oily residues, with analysts warning the rain may carry benzene, toluene, acetone, methylene chloride and other hydrocarbons, raising long-term risks for agriculture, drinking water and human health.
Some Iranian officials and climate advocates have begun calling such attacks ecocide, capturing the destruction of entire ecosystems, not just human communities.
The UN Environment Programme (Unep) has warned that attacks on oil facilities and industrial sites in and around Tehran are producing heavy smoke with hazardous compounds that raise concerns for both human and environmental health.
Pollution from uncontrolled fires can enter soil and water, leach into groundwater and be absorbed by crops, risking contamination of food supplies.
Key infrastructure such as desalination plants, critical to water security in the Gulf region, is also vulnerable to destruction — potentially creating catastrophic consequences for access to freshwater even before war-related pollution is fully accounted for, Unep said. Under the Geneva Convention, attacking desalination plants is a war crime.
“When you bomb fuel depots or one of these oil fields, the fires burn for weeks before they can be controlled,” Mash said. “The carbon emissions are incredible and that’s not even counting the emissions of the military itself: the massive ships sailing from the US to the Middle East, the bombers, the drones …
“It’s just insanity. We’re increasing our carbon emissions at a time when we should be doing the opposite and at the same time destroying people’s ecosystems, their land and their water — all for generations to come.”
The Conflict and Environment Observatory estimates that militaries are responsible for roughly 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Brown University’s Costs of War project found that between 2001 and 2017, the US military alone emitted 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, including fuel for aircraft, ships and vehicles deployed worldwide.
A recent analysis by the Climate and Community Institute estimated that the first two weeks of the 2026 war released nearly 5.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than the annual emissions of some small countries.
The largest contributions came from destroyed civilian infrastructure, bombed oil facilities (2.1 million tonnes), combat fuel use (583 000 tonnes) and lost military equipment (190 000 tonnes).
For Francesca de Gasparis, the executive director of the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, the scale of destruction moves beyond conventional notions of war.
“The level of toxicity and pollution in the soil, water and air quality is so severe that it is considered an ecocide … It’s at a level that is very difficult for us to comprehend or respond to,” she said.
“This kind of warfare is having a devastating impact on our ecosystems and on the planet’s capacity to support life.”
Iran grapples with poor air quality, soil degradation and deepening water scarcity. Bombardment and pollution now threaten drinking water and irrigation systems.
For Mash, Gaza offers a stark illustration of what prolonged war can do to a landscape and its future.
“Up to 80% of water wells in Gaza have been destroyed … Many wastewater treatment plants are not functioning,” she said. “You’ve now got untreated sewage going straight into the Mediterranean Sea and the Mediterranean doesn’t flush out. Pollution is leaching into aquifers.
“Ninety-five percent of tree crops, including one million olive trees are estimated to have been destroyed and 80% of agricultural land is damaged … And then, of course, there’s the toxic contamination.
“Some of these buildings that have been bombed have asbestos in their roofs. There are toxins from bombs going into the soil. There’s no waste management so trash is just accumulating in informal landfills.”
The lesson is that war does not end when the bombs stop falling.
“We see the deaths and we see the suffering but the environmental challenge is that the next generation — or the next two or three generations — will still be suffering from this,” she said.
De Gasparis, too, drew a direct parallel between Gaza and Iran. “We know that what’s happened in Gaza in terms of destruction of farmlands, water and natural resources, and in Iran, with blowing up of oil fields, is so severe it is considered an ecocide,” she said. “We’re seeing impacts at a climate level that’s entirely going to cause major emissions and ecosystem impacts that are extremely damaging.”
Mash and de Gasparis argue that religion is repeatedly misused to justify aggression, despite the core teachings of major faiths emphasising compassion, stewardship, non-violence and care for neighbours.
“Some political leaders claim to act in their religion’s name but none of the religions call for this kind of violence — it’s a wilful misinterpretation,” de Gasparis said. “It’s actually using religion for nefarious ends, dressing up greed as devotion.”
This fosters intolerance and escalates violence.
“Leaders say they are correcting the world order while accusing others of racism or ‘othering’ but they themselves create the conditions for more crime and retribution. If you take up arms, don’t be surprised if others do the same.
“Actions carried out in the name of the Jewish faith, the Christian faith or the Muslim faith are not representative of those religions.”
Mash makes a similar point, arguing that many wars are driven by land, oil and strategic control, with religion often providing a convenient moral cover.
“In most wars, there’s a strong political dimension — control over oil, land or strategic territory,” she said.
Beneath the language of holy war is a more familiar pattern of dispossession, extraction and power.
Mash said the conflict was increasingly being cast in religious terms.
“You’ve got people like Pete Hegseth [US secretary of war] who quote the Bible in support of the war. Similar rhetoric is used against the US and Israel by Iran. It is a geopolitical conflict being supported by religious views.”
“Then you’ve got that clash and what happens to Christians who live in Iran, what happens to Muslims who live in America. They then become seen as aligned with the enemy.”
Mash said the violence reflected a failure to recognise others’ humanity.
“They are of a different religion or a different culture so they don’t matter. When we no longer feel the pain of someone else’s child being shot we have lost our humanity.”
Some people are interpreting the US-Israel war with Iran as a sign of the “end times”.
Mash rejects apocalyptic readings of the current moment, arguing that conflict in the region was historically entrenched rather than divinely ordained.
“Wars in the Middle East have probably been the longest running conflict … I don’t think it’s the end times, I think that’s twisting of the scriptures.
“When the scriptures were written, they were waiting for the Messiah to come, which led to an emphasis on faithful living, loving your neighbour, caring for those in distress, looking after the orphan and widow. You weren’t supposed to be speeding up the end times by going and bombing people.”
For de Gasparis, the spiritual damage mirrors the ecological one.
“We are living in a time of horrifying collapse of values and people not acting in good faith,” she said.
Yet both women insist on separating states and their leaders from the people who must live through the consequences.
“Most people in Iran, Gaza, Israel, the US, or Cuba are not driven by hatred,” De Gasparis said.
“They want to live, love and coexist peacefully. It is the leadership — not the people — who must be held accountable for terror and destruction.
“Ordinary people struggle to defend their communities and call out the perpetrators of these terrible violent genocide and ecocides. I do believe the arc of justice is long but it curves and reckoning will come.”
Mash, too, finds hope not in the conduct of states but in the possibilities of interfaith solidarity.
She recalled that Ramadan and Lent began on the same day this year, with Purim taking place during the same period. In that overlap, she saw a small but powerful reminder of common ground.
“Christianity, Islam and Judaism all trace our roots back to Abraham,” she said.
“If we can teach young people to understand each other’s beliefs, we can build empathy, learn about others and strengthen our own faith.”