The crisis of dust storms as a regional product with extensive national and local feedback for Iran (Case study: Sarpol Zahab city)

In recent years, the crisis of dust storm has turned into a serious crisis in the Middle East region and has caused widespread feedback. Meantime, Iran has been widely affected by the effects of this phenomenon due to its geographical location. In this research, this phenomenon has been investigated in Sarpol Zahab city in two parts; First, identifying the process and its climatic analysis, and second examining the environmental, social, economic, political and defense-security consequences. The first part of this research was done by analyzing climatic data, and in the second part, after library research and interviews with experts, 5 indicators and 32 items related to the consequences of fine dust were calculated. Then, the calculated indicators and items were given to 18 experts. After confirming the indicators and items, a questionnaire was given to 350 citizens and the results were analyzed using the PLS structural equation model. The tracking of the Farin storm in April 2008 shows that it is a dust mass originating from the western regions of Iraq and eastern Syria, which enters the western regions of Iran with a relative northwest-southeast direction. Also, the results of the factor load of the items showed that the most important consequences of fine dust are the effect on the increase of illegal traffic from the border, the decrease of the greenness of plants, the increase of plant and animal pests, and the increase of street and urban protests and riots.