Environment

Iranwire — People in the Iranian city of Shahrekord in Charmahal and Bakhtiari province have gathered in front of the governor’s office to protest after nine days with no piped water. Videos posted online on Tuesday showed furious residents chanting slogans against the local and national governments, and shouting: “Only the street will give us our dues.” Large numbers of …

Iranwire – Fresh floods have engulfed the county of Firuzkuh in Tehran province on Wednesday shortly after weeks-long deluges left a trail of destruction across Iran. Governor Mohammad Heydari Manesh told reporters that relief teams had already been onsite in the village of Mazdaran when they were alerted to rising water levels in Firuzkuh city, a heritage site in the …

Al-Monitor – Iran will launch a new satellite into orbit next week.  The Iranian Space Agency said Aug. 3 that the Khayyam satellite will be launched via the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which is operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces. The satellite will work to improve agricultural productivity, monitoring water sources and natural disaster management, the official Islamic Republic News Agency …

Iranwire – At least 95 people have been killed in floods that swept Iran over the past week, according to the country’s Forensic Medicine Organization. Some 25 Iranian provinces have been affected by the heavy rains that led to severe flash-flooding, landslides and mudslides. Search and rescue teams from the Iranian Red Crescent are active in 661 separate locations. Around 20,000 homes …

VOA – Rescuers searched for the missing in Iran on Friday after landslides and floods triggered by heavy rains killed at least 53 people, officials said. Mehdi Valipour, head of emergency operations at the Red Crescent Society, told state TV that 16 people were still missing after two days of floods that have affected 400 towns and villages in 18 …

VOA – At least seven people were killed in floods near Tehran on Thursday, most in a landslide that dumped mud four meters deep in a village west of the capital, emergency services said.The flash flooding near Tehran, in the foothills of the Alborz mountains, comes less than a week after floods in the normally arid south of Iran left …

Iranwire – The Iranian news website Emtedad reports that environmentalist Morad Tahbaz has been released on bail from Evin Prison. Tahbaz, who holds British-Iranian-American triple nationality, was detained during a mass arrest of conservationists in early 2018. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on opaque charges of “contacts with the US government” and “acting against national security”. The London-born 66-year-old was …

rferl.org – Flash floods in Iran’s drought-stricken southern province of Fars have killed at least 21 people following heavy rainfall, state media reported on July 23. The flooding hit several towns and villages near the city of Estahban where torrential rainfall swelled the Roudbal River, a local official said. Videos posted on local and social media showed vehicles being carried …

iran-hrm – The state security forces have arrested at least 16 people at protests over the drying up of Lake Urmia which was once the world’s second largest salt lake. Reports say dozens have also been summoned by the authorities. Rahim Jahanbakhsh, the police chief of Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province, said on July 17 that several people had been arrested …

Iranwire – More than 2,700 Iranian public figures and civil society actors have penned a joint open letter to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the current chief justice of Iran, asking him to reconsider the case against a group of environmental activists who were first arrested in 2018. Morad Tahbaz, Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Nilofar Bayani, Taher Ghadirian, Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khaleghi and …