Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States and Western powers for destroying rain clouds that would otherwise bring rain to the Middle Eastern country, which has one of the driest climates in the world.
The lack of rain is hurting Iran’s agricultural sector.
“Today our country is moving towards drought, which is partly unintentional due to industry and partly intentional, as a result of the enemy destroying the clouds moving towards our country and this is a war that Iran is going to overcome,” Ahmadinejad said, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The country has a very dry climate, with 65 percent of its territory being arid or hyper-arid, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
It receives, on average, less than one third of the world average precipitation as its rugged Zagros and Alborz mountains prevent rain clouds from reaching the central, southern, and eastern parts of Iran, the U.N. said.
It was not the first time that Iranian officials blamed the West for engineering a drought in Iran.
“I feel that the world arrogance and colonization (Iranian official code language for the US and its allies) by using their technologies, are affecting the environmental situation in Iran,” Hassan Mousavi, an Iranian vice president, was quoted as saying in July, according to the Telegraph.
Ahmadinejad made similar statements while opening a dam in Markazi province in May, but moments later, it started to rain, reported the Daily Mail.
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