Forest fire in Iran. Photo credit: MEHRAB FARSAD / AFP / Profimedia
Iran has requested emergency foreign aid to put out a major fire that has been raging for several days in the north of the country, destroying forests included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, local media reported on Saturday, quoted by AFP.
These forests, which stretch for about 1,000 kilometers along the Caspian Sea in Iran and in neighboring Azerbaijan, constitute a “unique forest massif” for UNESCO due to their age – between 25 and 50 million years – and their biodiversity, with more than 3,200 plant species, notes the France Presse agency, quoted by Agerpres.
A fire that broke out in the region on November 1 was brought under control after a few days. But it reignited with even greater intensity on November 15, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.
“Faced with the impossibility of controlling the fire and preventing its spread to the surrounding forests, Iran has requested urgent help from friendly countries,” Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, deputy to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, wrote on the X network on Friday.
“Two specialized water bombers, a helicopter and eight people will be sent from Turkey,” Shina Ansari, head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, said on Saturday.
“If necessary, we will also request assistance from Russia,” she added on state television.
“Iranians are losing a natural heritage older than Persian civilization”
According to the Tasnim news agency, the fire is of “human origin” and was allegedly started by hunters in the rocky Elit area of Mazandaran province in northern Iran.
According to local media, eight hectares were consumed by the flames.
The fire comes as Iran faces one of its worst droughts since meteorological records began six decades ago.
The director general in charge of crisis management in Mazandaran province, Hossein Ali Mohammadi, described the firefighting operation as “one of the most complex in recent years”.
The Hyrcanian Forests of Iran were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019.
The UN agency notes on its website that these forests contain “a large number of rare and endemic tree species” and are home to numerous endangered species.
“Iranians are losing a natural heritage older than Persian civilization,” lamented Iranian scientist Kaveh Madani, who works for the UN and was Iran's deputy environment minister from 2017 to 2018, on the X network.
Wildfires have been burning across the Hyrcanian forests for nearly three weeks amid severe shortages of firefighting equipment. Local residents have been working with minimal resources to contain the blaze, while authorities have failed to provide effective assistance and… pic.twitter.com/9EDPHLiFDK
— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) November 22, 2025
