Environment

RFL/RE – Iranian authorities have ordered the evacuation of more towns and villages threatened by floods in the country’s southwest. With heavy rains drenching much of the country since March 19, floods have swept through hundreds of towns and villages in 26 of Iran’s 31 provinces. At least 70 people have been killed. The oil-producing Khuzestan Province, in southwest Iran, …

gatestoneinstitute – The natural disaster has also revealed some of the fundamental weaknesses of a dysfunctional system that, having devoted its principal resources and much of its energies to promoting a weird ideology, seems to be incapable of coping with basic tasks of a normal nation-state. President Hassan Rouhani, spending a week-long holiday in the island resort of Qishm, appeared …

radiofarda – Iran’s Deputy Prosecutor General for cyberspace has confirmed that “profiteers” are selling Red Crescent disaster relief tents meant for free distribution among flood victims on some websites. The official government news website, IRNA quoted Javad Javidnia as saying, “A lot of these kinds of problems and violations also existed in the past, but today engaging in fraud online …

middleeasteye – Iran’s cosmetic products market was valued $2.7 billion in 2018, with over half of the products being smuggled into the country, according to ISNA news agency. With a population of 81 million, Iran has the second highest consumption rate of cosmetic products in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia – a ranking unaffected by the US sanctions and …

Radiofarda – Flood emergencies continue in Western Iran, with tens of thousands of people sheltering in the open with little food or warm cloths to endure the cold and wet weather. The number of people who have dies as because of floods has reached 62, with hundreds injured. Flood waters have devastated most of Lorestan and have inundated the southwestern …

VOA – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has denied remarks attributed to its president by Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, about U.S. sanctions impeding flood relief assistance. In an interview with Radio Farda, Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke, public relation officer of ICRC said that the president of the organization Peter Maurer never mentioned any specific country when he spoke …

Al-Monitor – As non-stop heavy downpours continued to wreak havoc upon Iran, the country’s supreme leader expressed gratitude to the nation for Iranians’ “mobilized efforts” and “spirit of solidarity” in their cooperation with the government-led relief process. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was addressing Iran’s political elite as well as ambassadors from Muslim countries in the capital Tehran March 3, in a traditional speech for …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told high-ranking civilian officials and military commanders Tuesday evening, April 2, that they should have anticipated damage caused by floods and prepared for it. He said rivers and dams should have been dredged before the floods, construction in the vicinity of rivers should have been banned and cutting of trees should have …

CHRI – Iranians Ask Why Apps that Could Hasten Relief Remain Blocked State filters on social media apps have reduced the efficiency of relief operations in flood-hit regions of Iran, according to an official working for a state agency that publishes public awareness statements. “If filtering was not an obstacle, the rescue operations would have been more effective,” tweeted Alireza Moezi, the …

Radiofarda – Heavy rains on Monday completely overwhelmed several towns in the mountainous Lorestan province, where forced evacuations were ordered and people in many cases had to flee to nearby mountains to escape unending torrent of floods. The head of Iran’s Red Crescent Sarem Rezaee says Pol-e-Dokhtar, one of these towns, is still in super-crisis state and rescue workers are …