The fact is that 200 people represents the number of innocent people buried beneath tons of mud from the recent catastrophic floods. The smell of 200 decomposing corpses engulfed the local area’s atmosphere. The message conveyed by this calamitous scene is that the disaster is yet another result of the regime’s corruption. The situation in the village is so bad that Emamzadeh Davud “smells like the Metropol building collapse in Abadan,” according to the regime’s media.

 

 

In recent days, flash floods have wreaked havoc in hundreds of Iranian communities, leaving a horrifying trail of devastation and death in their wake. According to estimates, the death toll has surpassed 100. As per Mehdi Valipour, head of the regime’s Red Crescent, the official death toll is 61, with 32 others missing. The Head of the regime’s Crisis Management is warning that floods have been reported in 385 areas of at least 111 cities across 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces.

 

In three cities in the province of Fars, there have already been more than 23 casualties. Hundreds of people died in March 2019 as a result of severe flooding in the Fars provinces and other regions of the nation, just before the Persian New Year, but the regime has done nothing to avert this crisis ever since.

 

Floods have yet again hit Iran causing tragedy for all those in the water’s path and it’s especially devastating that it’s affecting the same areas as were flooded in March 2019. But it brings up the perfectly reasonable question of why the regime has not done anything in the past year to prevent these floods?

In last March’s flood, much of Lorestan and Ilam provinces were affected, with bridges destroyed, villages buried beneath water, and communications cut off. The regime vowed that the Revolutionary Guards’ (IRGC) Khatam-al Anbiya Base, would rebuild the area with its commander, Saeed Mohammad, and the IRGC’s aerospace commander, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, visiting Ilam on March 8, 2019, to examine the needs there.

It may not surprise you to learn that Khatam Al-Anbiya is actually one of supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s main looting institutions, so the promise about rebuilding those areas, including the erection of flood dams, were not fulfilled.

They basically just looted the Iranian people’s wealth by doing sub-par work and pocketing the additional money. That’s why the floods were able to damage and destroy the exactly same cities – Poldokhtar, Mamoulan, Khoramabad, and Kouhdasht.

By destroying the environment, the mullahs have worsened the floods, doing nothing to help the victims. They squandered the nation’s wealth to pursue nuclear & missile projects & warmongering, leaving our compatriots defenseless in the face of natural disasters #Iran pic.twitter.com/pRcPukObTm

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 13, 2020

Meisam Ghadami, deputy of the Directorate General of Road Administration and Transport, said on February 27 that, regarding the re-building of bridges destroyed in the March floods, there was a “lack of funds” and a desperate need to “speed up traffic in the area”. That’s why the Department of Roads and Transport “temporarily” installed metal decks of bridges at the same locations.

While the people of Sistan and Baluchestan freeze in treetops, the corrupt regime spends millions funding terrorist proxies in the regionhttps://t.co/NAGSkfeB62#Iran #floods #MEK @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/xPyqhzu0G9

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) January 26, 2020

He admited : “Damages piled up, promises of spring reached summer and were forgotten in autumn. Now in winter, the Lorestan flood victims are again in pain and suffering and the only thing to do is to hope that the flood will not hit Lorestan in the spring since until now the floods and rainfalls have not wakened up government officials.”

The damages caused in March’s floods were tens of billions of tomans’ worth to urban and rural infrastructures, residential homes, the agricultural sector, and more. The majority of this has not been compensated and the recent February flood has added another 2 billion tomans in damages.

It is clear that the Khatam-al Anbiya has profited from the Iranian people’s suffering, using substandard materials and shoddy labor. Worse still, the stage is set for them to do it again. This is the regime’s regular playbook and it is why they should be overthrown by the people.

Resistance Units of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) marked Jan 20^th, the anniversary of the Iranian resistance leader’s release from the Shah’s prison in 1979.

2019 is shaping up to be a difficult year for Iranians. Not only is the mullahs’ mismanagement of the Iranian economy sending the country into crisis, but the country has also been rocked by a string of violent and atypical storms.

Our nation has been overwhelmed and devastated by floods but their spirits to rise up and rebel against the mullahs are high and they remain resolved and determined.#Iran#IranFloods pic.twitter.com/5ZpN7roFXx

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 1, 2019

Between May 8 and May 31, yet more storms hit the country with Khorasan Razavi, East and West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Kurdistan, Fars, Khuzestan, Lorestan and Markazi among the provinces affected. Once again, the Iranian regime has been absent in the rescue and recovery efforts, despite several Iranians losing their lives in the flooding.

Tragedy Strikes

The head of the Iranian Emergency Department claimed that 31 people were killed and 71 Iranians were injured in the most recent spate of flooding. However, the true death toll is likely much higher.

In March, when floods struck Khuzestan and other low-lying provinces, the Iranian regime deliberately sought to cover up the real death toll. Despite the floods claiming more than 200 Iranian lives, the regime remained adamant that the death toll was much lower.

The #NCRI statement addresses the regime’s failure to provide emergency relief to #IranFlood survivors, its attempts to hide the true number of victims, and #Iran regime’s role in worsening the effects of the #floods.https://t.co/BkwDXBUCbA #FreeIran #IranRegimeChange

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) March 26, 2019

Now, as then, the regime refused to make resources available to the affected victims. The Revolutionary  Guards (IRGC) has boats, temporary shelters, helicopters and medical supplies as well as food and water. However, the regime has not made this equipment available to the Iranian people to alleviate the suffering and provide survivors with assistance.

Condolences and Messages of Support

President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the main Iranian opposition, was among the first to offer condolences and offer her messages of solidarity with the victims. Mrs. Rajavi expressed her hope for a swift recovery for the victims. She also called on the country’s youth to be forthcoming in their efforts to assist.

She called on young Iranians to form popular councils to distribute assistance to the victims in any way they can.

Mrs. Rajavi also pointed the finger at the clerical regime for its inaction and failure to adequately prepare for the heavy rains. Their inaction left the country defenseless against natural disasters. Their plundering of the country’s resources has stripped away Iranians’ ability to rebuild.

Additionally, the mullahs’ indiscriminate construction and poor town planning have ravaged the country’s natural defenses and left it vulnerable to flooding. There is no doubt that the mullahs’ lack of foresight and indiscriminate policymaking exacerbated the damage caused by the flooding and led to the needless loss of human life.

She concluded that under the clerical regime, Iranians find themselves needlessly suffering from natural disasters that are both predictable and preventable. Manageable accidents become national disasters due to the regime’s mismanagement.

Staff writer

 

 

 

On Friday, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office (FCO) issued a warning to British-Iranian dual nationals advising them not to travel to Iran.

The Foreign Office said that the change in travel advice was due to the regime’s “continued arbitrary detention and mistreatment of dual nationals.”

British nationals, particularly those with dual citizenship, face an “unacceptably higher risk” of arbitrary detention and mistreatment at the hands of the Iranian regime than citizens of other countries, added the FCO.

The Foreign Office is warning British-Iranian dual nationals against travelling to Iran as they face "continued arbitrary detention" https://t.co/8DU5I17gdy

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 17, 2019

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt explained the reasoning for the change in travel advice, noting the Iranian regime’s refusal to take steps to remedy the problem. He said: “Dual nationals face an intolerable risk of mistreatment if they visit Iran. Despite the UK providing repeated opportunities to resolve this issue, the Iranian regime’s conduct has worsened.

“Having exhausted all other options, I must now advise all British-Iranian dual nationals against traveling to Iran.

“The dangers they face include arbitrary detention and lack of access to basic legal rights, as we have seen in the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been separated from her family since 2016.

“Regrettably, I must also offer a message of caution to Iranian nationals resident in the UK – but who return to visit family and friends – especially where the Iranian government may perceive them to have personal links to UK institutions or the British government.”

Sky News reported that the change in travel advice was partially due to concerns that the Iranian regime would take punitive action against British-Iranian dual citizens with links to UK institutions.

The Iranian regime does not recognize dual citizenship.

Unrest in Iran

The travel warning follows a series of brutal crackdowns by the clerical regime intended to quell the rising tide of dissent in the country and stave off widespread rebellion. The designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization and the tightening of U.S. oil sanctions have deepened both domestic and international economic and political tensions for the regime at a time when the mullahs’ grasp on power was already tenuous.

Last month’s devastating floods took hundreds of lives and caused billions of dollars in damages. It also exposed decades of incompetence and corruption by the regime. Poorly built bridges and dams collapsed, drainage systems that had been paved over caused massive flooding, and years of deforestation intensified the destruction.

April 14 – Hamidiyeh, Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, southwest #Iran
Locals are seen marching, protesting the regime's inaction in response to recent floods.#IranFloods pic.twitter.com/13Vda0e3Y5

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 13, 2019

The regime’s heartless response during and after the floods caused widespread outrage. While flood victims waited on rooftops for help that did not come, state-run television minimized the number of casualties and damage due to the disaster. Volunteers who provided food and other assistance to their friends and neighbors were arrested. Regime officials who visited flood-stricken areas were greeted by angry protesters who demanded to know when they would receive tents. The regime responded by sending tanks to suppress the protests.

Regime Crackdown

It is in this environment that the mullahs have attempted to crack down on further dissent. The regime recently announced the launch of the Razavion Patrol, a new suppressive force that will police neighborhoods to prevent MEK Resistance Units and other political dissidents from gathering. It is also working to pass an amendment that will make it legal to deny some detainees legal representation while they are being investigated.

The regime is acting out of fear, and it is while it is in this state of fear that it is most dangerous. A bear is at its most deadly when it is gravely wounded. The international community would do well to recognize the threat posed by the regime.

Staff writer

 

 

 

 

 

The governor of flood-ravaged Khuzestan Province once again sparked outrage for his controversial remarks in the wake of the deadly floods that swept through 25 out of 31 provinces last month.

Hamidiyeh, Khuzestan Province, southwest #Iran
Locals are happy after successfully repairing a flood barrier protecting their homes & farms from rising waters of Karkheh River.

With the absence of any state aid, people are taking matters into their own hands.#IranFloods pic.twitter.com/hyKiERiL1D

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 8, 2019

In an interview on Iran’s state-run television, Gholamreza Shariati described the recent visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

“During their visits, the International Red Cross protested that our flood aid was too much and outside of their protocols… and that we should not have given so much aid,” Shariati said!

The governor was asked what constituted too much aid, and he claimed that the ICRC complained to the head of the Red Crescent about “facilities and things that were given in the official camps.”

Lack of Emergency Aid

 

In the days after the floods, survivors in the hardest-hit areas waited days to receive tents. Residents in villages that were surrounded by floodwaters were stranded without food, water, or emergency aid for days while regime officials denied the severity of the disaster and minimized the extent of casualties.

April 7 – Near Shush, Khuzestan Province, southwest #Iran
Locals striving to prevent floodwaters from engulfing their village.

No state aid is provided and people across the country are left on their own to face the ravaging floods.#IranFloods pic.twitter.com/iiPa7sYiY8

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 7, 2019

Regime officials who visited flood-stricken areas for photo ops were greeted by angry protests from disaster victims who demanded explanations for why they had been abandoned by the government.

Previous Controversy

Khuzestan’s governor generated controversy during the floods during one such visit to a flood-stricken region. A video shared on social media showed an elderly man asking Shariati why the regime continued to give aid to Syria while denying emergency aid to its own people.

“Don’t be so irrelevant! You’re insolent and anti-government! Get lost!” Shariati angrily retorted before going on to threaten the flood victim.

 

According to the United Nations Office on the Situation in Syria, the Islamic Republic of Iran spends an average of $6 billion a year in Syria. This comprises approximately half of the total amount budgeted for subsidies in Iran.

April 24 – Khuzestan Province, southwest #Iran
Man says they have lost everything in the recent floods.
Locals are constantly complaining of not receiving any state aid.#IranFloods pic.twitter.com/keFtjC9kWl

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 24, 2019

The people of Iran have expressed anger at the regime’s continued funding of Bashar al Assad’s war in Syria while 80 percent of the population of Iran lives below the poverty line.

Continuing Impact of the Floods

Meanwhile, the regime has still taken few concrete steps to address the flood recovery effort. Millions of Iranians have been affected by the disaster, either through direct damage or destruction of their homes and towns, loss of employment and infrastructure, or both. Regime officials have refused to provide unemployment assistance to those who lost jobs because of the floods unless they had pre-existing unemployment coverage. Because of the economic crisis gripping the country and the regime’s anti-labor policies, many of the factory and industrial workers who are now unemployed did not have this coverage due to their forced status as contract workers.

I urge the freedom-loving youths and members of resistance units and councils to not lose any opportunity in helping the flood-hit families. Help the people organize their popular councils which is the only solution for prevailing over this devastating flood.#Iran#IranFlood pic.twitter.com/lrwTjnPB5Y

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 27, 2019

The MEK has taken a strong stance in opposition to the regime’s anti-labor policies and its heartless response to the national disaster faced by the Iranian people. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian opposition, has urged the people of Iran to form resistance councils and to “rush to the aid” of those affected by the floods.

Staff writer

Regime security agents have arrested Akram Nasirian, a charity worker who has been working in the country’s flood-stricken regions.

According to ‘The Voice of Iranian Women’, a charity organization providing assistance to flood victims, Nasirian disappeared on April 29, 2019, in Tehran. A detective bureau agency in the capital traced her cell phone signal to the Evin region of Tehran, an indication that she was likely being detained in Evin Prison.

Scattered Information

Nasirian phoned her family, briefly informing them that she had been detained and held for questioning. She told them her case was being referred to the Second Branch of the Prosecutors office in Evin.

Nasirian’s son took to Instagram to share his mother’s story with the world. “My mother Akram Nasirian was arrested on the street on Monday, April 29 [2019] and taken to Evin Prison without anyone informing us,” he said.

No news of charity worker Akram Nasirian who was arrested on April 29 by unidentified security agents in Tehran for unknown reasons.
Nasirian, had worked in flood-impacted areas of #Iran prior to her arrest. https://t.co/ElLzTap5KL pic.twitter.com/o6b3cHk8ww

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) May 10, 2019

He asked, “For what crime have you arrested my mother? For teaching Afghan refugees to read and write and helping flood victims in the south of the country?” He ended the video message with an appeal to “social activists and human rights groups to work for her immediate and unconditional release.”

A String of Detained Charity Workers

Nasirian is the latest arrest in the regime’s crackdown on charity workers and others providing assistance to victims of flooding across the country. In April, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) arrested dozens of Iranian-Arabs in Ahvaz who were active in providing assistance to victims in Khuzestan province.

The effort is part of a wider regime strategy to downplay the impact of flooding and its inaction in supporting flood victims. The regime arrested reporters revealing the full death toll and investigating the regime’s role in exacerbating the issue.

At least 2 million citizens are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Flooding cut off food and clean water supplies, left more than 300,000 families without shelter, clothing, and medicine. It also claimed more than 200 Iranian lives.

Estimates suggest that the damage caused by the floods was equal to or greater than the damage caused by the entire eight-year war with Iraq. Many sources have accurately suggested the 2019 flooding was the country’s worst national disaster in fifteen years.

Instead of mobilizing the country’s resources to assist in the rescue and humanitarian efforts, the regime channeled its energies on stifling dissent, arresting reporters and employing mercenaries to help crush dissent. Afghan, Iraqi and Pakistani mercenaries roved the affected areas, outraging residents and highlighting the regime’s utter inadequacy to respond to a national crisis.

The arrest of Nasirian is the latest proof that this regime is totally unfit to govern. It clearly demonstrates its lack of empathy for the Iranian people and selfish determination to maintain its grip on power at all costs.

Staff writer

As the full scale of the flooding becomes apparent, Iranians feel deceived and let down by the mullahs’ clerical regime. Not only has it become apparent that the regime’s environmental and civil mismanagement exacerbated the damage and failed to protect Iran’s towns and villages from flooding, but the regime deliberately misled the population over the death toll and has not provided assistance to areas affected.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1113465455203823617.html

Iranians living in areas affected by the flooding have been left with limited access to food and clean water. They have had to organize rescue efforts themselves and put themselves at enormous personal risk to retrieve victims’ bodies from the muddy waters. The regime has been absent in the humanitarian and rescue efforts.

Now, to add insult to the Iranian people, the regime has vowed to crack down on any protestor publicly expressing their anger at the regime’s inaction.

Iranian Police Chief Vows “Decisive Measures”

The Iranian police chief, Hossein Ashtari, told reporters in Lorestan that the regime would “deal decisively with those who disrupt order and security in flood-stricken areas.”

“My colleagues were by the people’s side from the very beginning,” he claimed. “The police force was reinforced in the town of Poldokhtar and more forces were deployed to the province [of Lorestan] and the town,” he continued.

Video footage circulating on social media has demonstrated the falsity in his remarks. The footage shows Iranians filling sandbags and searching for victims themselves, without oversight or assistance from the authorities. This has characterized the rescue efforts.

#IRANFLOOD
The people protests saying have received no help from the governments #FreeIran @USAdarFarsi #IranRegimeChange pic.twitter.com/R8uutq4yMZ

— farzanbabaei (@farzanbabaei1) April 2, 2019

Based on reports from MEK sources more than two weeks after flood waters ravaged Northern Iran, the Iranian people have begun to direct their ire at the regime.  The same reports indicate that a man in a village in southwest Khuzestan was arrested for protesting the regime’s flood response.

In a video taken in Ahvaz, citizens attacked a local Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) base with sticks and stones. The regime is determined not to let unrest spread.

Deceit and Lies

Part of its strategy to contain civil unrest has been to deliberately withhold the scale of the flood’s destruction. The official death toll released by the regime claimed 66 people died in the flooding. However, the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) has revealed the real death toll to be much higher. It estimates more than 200 Iranians died in the flooding. This figure was based on eyewitness testimonies, including that of a doctor in Poldokhtar who claimed “hundreds” of Iranians lost their lives.

Flood Death Toll Is More Than 200, #Iran Regime Hides Real Figures in Fear of People's Anger
Mrs. @Maryam_Rajavi calls for the creation of popular councils to deal with the flood and its catastrophic consequenceshttps://t.co/eomO8XSRzK #IRANFLOOD pic.twitter.com/jzTuFANoGc

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 27, 2019

He wrote in a post on social media, “today I left Poldokhtar with hundreds and hundreds of fatalities,” adding that the scope of the disaster was so “extreme that it could not be explained.”

The doctor claimed that the death toll was so high because many victims were left stranded on rooftops. Helicopters did not arrive in time to save them. Instead, they were left. When the rains picked up again and the waters rose, they have swept away.

The doctor’s claims were collaborated by a soldier in a video circulating on social media.

Staff writer