Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Iran: the uprising of the thirsty
PAYAM SOLHTALAB writes on the ever-deepening water crisis in Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province and reveals its root
Protesters march with a banner reading ‘Without water, without jobs, without health. Khuzestan is not Iran’s stepchild!’

OVER recent days, an already tense situation in Iran’s south-western Khuzestan province, the centre of the country’s oil industry, has deteriorated further with growing protests by locals over breakdowns in critical infrastructure – principally severe water shortages – amid the heat of another sweltering summer and warnings that the country faces its most severe drought in half a century.

Protests have been directed against the nationwide water and power shortages which have acutely affected central and southern Iran, and Khuzestan in particular, and the insufferable conditions people there are having to endure in stifling heat – often in excess of 50°C — including a lack of access to clean water and the dangerously unsanitary situation arising as a result, as well as increasingly frequent power blackouts.

According to widespread reports from on the ground in Khuzestan, at least three young men have been killed by regime security forces at protests there within the last week. Scores of protesters have been wounded and are receiving treatment.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
People cross a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, August 28, 2025
Features / 30 August 2025
30 August 2025

Payam Solhtalab talks to GAWAIN LITTLE, general secretary of Codir, about the connection between the struggle for peace, against banking and economic sanctions, and the threat of a further military attack by the US/Israel axis on Iran

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting with judiciary officials in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Middle East / 17 July 2025
17 July 2025

The Islamic Republic is attempting to deflect from its own failures with a scapegoating campaign against vulnerable and impoverished migrants, writes JAMSHID AHMADI

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting wi
Features / 21 February 2025
21 February 2025
Freedom now for former PM Mir-Hossein Mousavi and other political prisoners
WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM: Protests over the death of Mahsa Amini
Features / 7 December 2024
7 December 2024
Codir general secretary GAWAIN LITTLE explains the solidarity campaign's priorities as it holds its AGM this weekend