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Iran opposes the ‘wake-up bell’ for the regime

Farmers demanded water to irrigate their crops, protesters spilled blood on their faces and riot police shouted at them to disperse – in recent weeks the riverbed has scorched in the historic city center Isfahan was the site of Iran’s largest-ever environmental protest.

Riot police patrol Isfahan this weekend after clearing the dry river Zayandeh Thousands of protesters have set up camp there. Local media reported that dozens of protesters, some chanting ‘death of the dictator’ and ‘our police, our disgrace’, had been arrested.

Iran, an arid and semi-arid country, is grappling with a decades-long drought and rapidly dwindling water resources, a problem exacerbated by a growing population. Farmers near Isfahan were among the worst hit, arguing that they were at a loss because the government had prioritized supplying water to cities and industry.

“Farmers know that now there is no water to go to the river but this [demonstration] Masoud Sarrami, a senior businessman in Isfahan, said.

It is the latest protest aimed at shaking up the Iranian regime, hit hard by sanctions, and highlighting the scale of the environmental challenge facing the Islamic republic. As the protests grew, President Ebrahim Raisi ordered the creation of a commission to look into the revival of Zayandeh Roud. Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said water problems would be solved “by any means and in any way possible”. Ali Akbar Mehrabian, the Energy Minister, apologized to Isfahan farmers last week and promised a solution.

The situation in Isfahan is extreme.

Iranians protest after their river dries up in the central city of Isfahan

Iranians protest after their river dries up due to drought and diversion in the central city of Isfahan © ISNA/AFP via Getty Images

Heshmatollah Entekhabi, a researcher on the Zayandeh Roud basin, in the past 14 months, the Zayandeh Roud River has almost dried up. Water is allowed to enter the river from the dam for two 10-day periods.

Local authorities say the Zayandeh Roud dam, which is normally filled with rainwater and water from nearby mountains, is only 14% full. About 2m out of the 5m population of the Zayandeh Roud basin has been severely affected. Many people depend on crops such as onions, potatoes, melons as well as maize for fodder and alfalfa for a living.

“The Isfahan protests are not politically motivated at all but farmers have a lot of detailed information about where their water has gone,” said Fatemeh Kazemi, an environmental activist in Isfahan.

Entekhabi says the farmers’ demands are justifiable. “The government must revive Zayandeh Roud in any way possible but until that day comes, they must pay the farmers a fair amount for their losses,” he added. “Instead of going out into the streets at risk of conflict, the farmers chose to dry up the riverbed and show the people of Iran and the world that the river is really dry.”

In a sign of how the protests in Isfahan could escalate, thousands of people in the neighboring Chaharmahal Bakhtiari province, where Zayandeh Roud is from, have also taken to the streets fearing their water supplies would fail. diverted to appease the people of Isfahan. Farmers in Isfahan have destroyed several pipelines that carry water to the southern city of Yazd.

The water crisis has been aggravated by Iran’s economic crisis. Heavily sanctioned by the US after the nuclear deal collapsed, Tehran has difficulty funding its long-term development plans. It also lacks access to Western technologies and needs tens of billions of dollars to reform traditional irrigation systems and find less water-intensive crops.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last month, Iran said it would commit to cutting emissions if sanctions were lifted. Iran’s Vice President and Head of the Environment Ministry, Ali Salajegheh, asked the conference “how can Iran realize its commitments under the Paris framework?” [Climate] Agreement if it cannot get any financial and technical help from the international community? ”

Iran’s environmentalists tend to agree. “We face an impasse whenever we propose plans to the government,” said Mohammad Darvish, a leading activist in Tehran. “A large amount of the population will have to relocate in the near future. Where should they go? This is not just an Iranian problem with a population of 85 million. It will affect the whole world.”

And now Isfahan was silent. It is not clear how prepared the farmers there were for the trip. Several videos of the protests have gone viral. In one video, an elderly farmer said: “It’s not hooliganism [who beat up people]. That’s the police. ”

Abbas Abdi, a reformist analyst, said every time there is a major protest, the regime loses its support base. Now, they risk losing farmers, he added, “but that doesn’t seem to worry anyone.” [political] system.”

Before the river bed was cleared, videos of the protesters went viral on social media. “Officials should know that a war front has opened in Isfahan,” a middle-aged farmer said in a video last week. “I warn you that you return the water of Zayandeh Roud either. . . You will join the dustbin of history. ”

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