Israel has spent decades reintroducing species that disappeared from its landscape, including Persian fallow deer, Persian onagers, roe deer, and Arabian oryx. Iran played a crucial role as a source of some of these animals, including through a covert 1979 operation in which Israeli agents transported deer from Dasht-e Naz during the Iranian Revolution. Several programs have produced substantial populations, although onagers have caused agricultural damage and some reintroductions have had mixed results. Israel is also expanding protection for species such as Nubian ibex and the Negev vulture, while Iran’s conservation efforts are undermined by habitat loss, degraded protected areas, insufficient personnel, and inadequate planning.

A small survey of 11 Iranian journalists, activists and civil-society figures was used to model 20 possible outcomes of the Iran-Israel conflict. The most likely scenario was an Iranian currency collapse and large-scale economic shutdown within six months, followed by infrastructure cyberattacks, intensified disinformation and possible Saudi-Israeli normalisation. A second wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and direct US clashes with the IRGC were considered possible, while mass protests, regime change, a secular Western-aligned government and a regional non-proliferation treaty were judged less likely. The analysis concludes that Iran’s regime is likely to survive but become more isolated and militarised, while acknowledging that the findings are speculative and highly dependent on the limited, Iran-focused sample and chosen scenarios.

Lake Urmia, once the Middle East’s largest lake and a major habitat for birds, reptiles and mammals, has been severely depleted by a causeway, poorly designed dams and extensive water extraction. Most of the lake has dried into a salt desert, damaging ecosystems, eliminating agriculture and tourism jobs, driving migration and contributing to salt storms and respiratory disease. Experts cited in the piece see little prospect of restoring the lake to its former state.