THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accuses the West of destroying Iran's rain clouds
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the West of deliberately destroying rain clouds headed for Iran in a concerted effort to plunge the country into a damaging drought.
The Iranian president made the assertions in a speech on Monday addressing the problems caused by low rainfall trends, which experts say is threatening Iran's agriculture.
"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," Mr Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the Caspian Sea city of Gonbad-e Kavus to mark its registration as a Unesco World Heritage site.
Although Iran is recognised as having one of the world's driest climates, the comments were the latest in a series of allegations by officials of a Western conspiracy to turn its water shortage into a major crisis.
In July, Hassan Mousavi, head of Iran's cultural heritage organisation and one of Mr Ahmadinejad's vice-presidents, urged meteorological experts to investigate the possibility that the west was engineering a draught in southern Iran, traditionally one of the country's most parched regions [BELOW].
"I feel that the world arrogance and colonisation (Iranian official code language for the US and its allies) by using their technologies, are affecting the environmental situation in Iran," he said.
Specialists have recently warned that low rainfall has reached "undesirable levels", producing officially-designated draught conditions in more than three-quarters of the country.
Previously, Mr Ahmadinejad has accused European nations of deliberately emptying clouds to produce torrential storms in their own countries that would lead in turn to rain shortages in the Middle East. He said Iran would pursue the matter through international legal channels.
Earlier this year, the Iranian leader accused Western states of creating the HIV to weaken the developing world and create a market for pharmaceuticals.
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Iran VP claims country's drought is part of West's weather war on Islamic republic
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The head of Iran's cultural heritage and tourism organization believes that in addition to economic sanctions, the West is launching another kind of 'soft war' on the Islamic republic.
Speaking at a ceremony to introduce the nation's new meteorological department chief, Hassan Mousavi said that he was 'suspicious about the drought in the southern part of the country.'
He went on to accuse the West as using 'technology' to influence the nation's climate, saying sand storms, droughts, and other extreme weather were the result of an unspecified method of war.
Drought: Speaking at a ceremony to introduce the nation's new chief of meteorological department, Hassan Mousavi said that he was 'suspicious about the drought in the southern part of the country'
‘The world arrogance and colonist (term used by Iranian authorities to label the West) are influencing Iran's climate conditions using technology,' Mr Mousavi was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency, according to the AFP.
‘The drought is an acute issue and soft war is completely evident... This level of drought is not normal.’
Iran's southern region has bee hit by sand storms that engulfed several cities, caused by numerous droughts.
The storms typically enter Iran from neighboring Iraq, where wars have increased the desertification of the country.
Riverbed: He went on to accuse the West as using 'technology' to influence the nation's climate, saying sand storms, droughts, and other extreme weather were the result of an unspecified method of war
Dry: Iran's southern region has been hit by sand storms that engulfed several cities, caused by numerous droughts
His argument is not uncommon, however.
Last year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Western countries of devising plans to ‘cause drought’ in Iran.
'Western countries have designed plans to cause drought in certain areas of the world, including Iran,' he said at the time.
'The drought is an acute issue and soft war is completely evident... This level of drought is not normal.'
Hassan Mousavi
He continued: 'They prevent rain clouds from reaching regional countries, including Iran.'
Iran's leaders continuously accuse the West, and specifically the United States, of threatening against the Islamic republic's sovereignty and development.
