Soran Mansournia

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) does not need aircraft carriers, command of the sea or even a total blockade to threaten the global energy supply. In the Strait of Hormuz, it relies on something older, cheaper and, in some ways, more effective: the weaponization of geography. The corps does not need to destroy fleets or physically block every vessel to produce systemic disruption.

Over the past two decades, wildfires have destroyed large areas of Iran’s forests and rangelands, most severely in the Zagros Mountains, home to much of the country’s Kurdish population. In recent years, several well-known Kurdish environmental activists have died fighting these fires, the latest in July 2025. Environmental groups say firefighting support in Kurdish regions is almost nonexistent: volunteers lack protective gear, and promised state equipment rarely arrives.

More than twenty years after the Islamic Republic embarked on its ostensibly to generate clean energy, the initiative stands as one of the nation’s largest money pits. While Tehran insists its objectives were peaceful, the financial reality tells another story. The direct and indirect costs associated with developing the program are estimated to exceed . But this figure is dwarfed by the broader economic fallout.