Ahvazi Citizens Hold Protest in Front of Khuzestan Governorate

A group of Ahvazi citizens gathered in front of the Khuzestan Governorate on Tuesday, February 25, to protest against recent water and electricity outages, the crisis of dust storms, and the plans for transferring water from the Karun River. According to ISNA news agency, the protesters held placards and chanted slogans against the water and electricity outages, the 'lack of proper management in air pollution conditions,' the 'poor performance of the head of the Environmental Protection Organization in addressing the dust storm issue,' and the transfer of water from Khuzestan. Additionally, according to IRIB news agency, the protesters identified the transfer of water from the Karun River's tributaries as one of the main causes of the drying of wetlands, including the Hoor al-Azim wetland, leading to dust storms with domestic origins. Fars news agency reported that the governor of Ahvaz promised to address these issues while among the protesters, and the gathering eventually concluded. Videos from the protest have been shared on social media, showing protesters chanting slogans such as 'Ahvaz is our city, clean air is our right' and 'incompetent officials, resign, resign.' Some of the placards held by attendees read 'Ahvaz has no breath,' 'Khuzestan buried in neglect,' 'Khuzestan has been buried alive,' 'Karun without water, death for Khuzestan,' and 'Do not turn Khuzestan into hell with water transfer.' The people of Ahvaz have previously gathered several times in protest against the dust storm crisis in front of the Khuzestan Governorate. Electricity and water in Ahvaz were cut off for the third time in recent days on Sunday evening. Previously, the dust storm crisis on February 23 had caused water and electricity outages in schools and offices in 11 cities of Khuzestan, leading to school and office closures and disruptions in business activities. On Friday, February 8, following a dust storm in 10 cities of Khuzestan province, electricity, water, and internet were cut off in Ahvaz, and schools and offices in the city were closed. The occurrence of dust storms in several western and eastern provinces of Iran in recent years has repeatedly led to school and office closures, flight cancellations, and hospitalizations of several citizens in medical centers. Ziaoddin Shoa'i, the national manager of the Dust Storm Combat Task Force of the Environmental Protection Organization, had previously reported that the intensity of dust storms in Khuzestan province in Bahman 1393 exceeded ten thousand micrograms per cubic meter, to the extent that measuring it was 'beyond the capacity of air pollution measurement devices.' On Sunday, the Khuzestan parliamentary delegation issued a statement requesting the government to hold an urgent meeting instead of merely 'apologizing and approving nominal budgets.' However, officials from the Environmental Protection Organization have stated that solving the dust storm problem does not have a short-term solution. The issue of transferring water from Khuzestan to neighboring provinces has also made headlines in recent years. In this regard, Mohsen Heydari, the Friday prayer leader of Ahvaz, recently stated that the Supreme Water Council of the country has allowed the transfer of water from Khuzestan to six neighboring provinces 'to provide drinking water,' with an annual volume of transferred water from Khuzestan amounting to one billion and 260 million cubic meters.