Iranian general blames water woes on Israeli ‘cloud theft’

TEHRAN - Head of the Civil Defense Organization said on Monday that a drop in rain and snowfall in Iran seem "suspicious", noting that foreign hands might be behind the phenomenon.

"There are scientific centers in the country that conducted a study in this regard and the results confirm this point," said Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, ISNA reported.

"Joint teams from Israel and one of the neighboring countries are deceeding the clouds entering Iran," he said, adding, "Also, we are faced with other phenomena such as cloud stealing and snow stealing."

In the study, the general continued, "the highlands of Afghanistan to the Mediterranean were studied, and the result was that all the highlands with the height of over 2,200 meters were covered with snow while our highlands were arid."

In recent years, Iran has been suffering from low precipitation and experiencing a rise in temperature.

Last week, the director of the national center for drought and crisis management said all Iranian provinces experienced an average 0.8 degrees on the Celsius scale temperature rise over spring compared to the long-term mean.

The long-term mean temperature in spring was 20.3 degrees on the Celsius scale nationwide, Sadeq Ziaeian said.

According to Iran's meteorological organization, Iran has experienced a 56-percent decrease in average precipitation over the period from September 23 to December 25 in 2017 compared to the same period in the long run.

MH/PA