Barriers to the Implementation of Iran's Clean Air Act: A Policy-Oriented Scoping Review

Air pollution remains a serious environmental and public-health issue in Iran. Despite the Clean Air Act (CAA), enforcement is limited and compliance is weak. This 2025 scoping review outlines major barriers to CAA enforcement and proposes evidence-based policy actions. Multiple databases including Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar were searched and Policy documents, institutional reports, and legal texts were identified through Google and official organizational websites. Finally, a thematic analysis was conducted on the data using a four-dimensional conceptual framework. The data were categorized into four main categories of challenges. In the cultural, information and evidence domain, key issues included low policy priority for air pollution, weak public awareness, insufficient transparency, and lack of evidence for policymaking. Governance-related challenges involved institutional fragmentation, limited authority of the Department of Environment (DOE), multiple actors without coordination mechanisms, weak enforcement, and absence of performance metrics. Financial constraints included reliance on public budgets, lack of sustainable revenue sources, project interruptions due to budgetary constraints, and absence of cost-benefit models. Technical and infrastructural issues included lack of a data-governance system, absence of mandatory data and equipment standards, no technological roadmap, and weak industrial technology and monitoring infrastructure. Governance and institutional challenges represented the predominant share of factors hindering the CAA implementation in Iran. Addressing these challenges requires stronger political commitment, governance reform, sustainable financing, integrated data and monitoring systems, enhanced technical infrastructure, and evidence-based policymaking. A comprehensive, intersectoral, and long-term redesign of air-pollution control mechanisms in Iran is essential.