The Iranian province of Khuzestan is experiencing temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius, the ongoing coronavirus outbreak without adequate vaccines, immense poverty, and a major water shortage that is causing people to die of thirst.

The people of Khuzestan have suffered under the regime for 40 years now, due to the eight-year war with Iraq, destructive policies, and widespread poverty, even though the province is rich in oil facilities and makes up about 14% of the country’s GDP. Now, they face extreme temperatures and a lack of water at the same time, despite having five large rivers running through it.

The Aftab-e Yazd daily wrote: “Khuzestan has not had so many problems overnight that it can be treated overnight. Beyond this issue, one can all government to account from [Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani] to the end of [Hassan] Rouhani’s government, all the governors and MPs of this province and this means that in Khuzestan, ‘we are all to blame!’”

Indeed, many of the supposed reformists are now asking what they did to improve the province when they were in power. (Hint: Nothing.)

Former MP Kianoosh Rad said: “Unfortunately, all post-revolution governments, left and right, reformist and hardliners, have all been involved in transferring water from the Karun tributaries to the central plateau of Iran for consumption in industries.”

While Ahwaz MP Mojtaba Yousefi admitted to the implementation of unscientific water transfer projects in Khuzestan, saying that “Khuzestan witnessed a self-made flood of the Ministry of Energy in 2019 because they wanted to say that Khuzestan has surplus water resources and transfer it”.

All of this has been causing protests all over the province, spreading to other provinces, and gaining attention from all over the world

The French Liberation newspaper quoted an Iranian expert as saying that the drought is not due to drought, but due to the regime’s theft of natural resources, as well as mismanagement which has squandered the available water.

Due to this, former president Mahmood Ahmadinejad announced a few days ago that the regime is considering a “security plan” for Khuzestan.

Ahmadinejad said: “After the [Iran-Iraq] war the Supreme National Security Council approved a plan to prevent any investment in Khuzestan because the development of Khuzestan could cause problems for the government.”

It is clear that the problems in this province and the country as a whole will not be solves while the regime remains in charge.