[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Head of Iran's Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholam Ridha Jalali has accused Israel and another country he didn’t name of stealing the clouds of Iran which lead to climate change and drought in the country.On Monday, Iranian news agency ISNA reported Jalali, a military commander in the Revolutionary Guards as saying that: "Iran's climate changes are unnatural and result from foreign interference, through their research; Iranian scientific centers have reached this conclusion."
Jalali added: "Both Israel and another country are working into making Iranian clouds not rainy. In addition to this, they are stealing rain and snow too."
He continued saying: "According to the studies that included Afghanistan's highlands to the Mediterranean Sea, we see that all the highlands that are over 2,200 meters are covered in snow but our highlands are dry."
The statement comes after protests have went
kaboom!in southwestern Iran, specifically in the cities of Muhammarah and Abadan, because of the pollution and lack of water, where protesters have accused the authorities of mismanagement and transferring there water to other areas.
The protests witnessed violent activities as security forces suppressed protesters and gunfire was heard, resulting in injuries and arrests of dozens of activists. While some reports in social media sites reported the death of a number of protesters. Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli denied this news, stressing that no one was killed during the protests.
It is not the first time this year that Iran has been witnessing protests over lack of water. Several months ago, farmers in Isfahan came out protesting the water shortage in their province.
| Update from The Times of Israel at 8:35 a.m. EDT: |
General Jalali "probably has documents of which I am not aware, but on the basis of meteorological knowledge, it is not possible for a country to steal snow or clouds," said the head of Iran’s meteorological service Ahad Vazife, quoted by ISNA.
"Iran has suffered a prolonged drought, and this is a global trend that does not apply only to Iran," Vazife says.
| No drought in Cincinnati, actually. We haven’t yet had to turn in the sprinklers. Normally they are in regular use from the third week in April —perhaps Allah likes us better. |