TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Monday called on Iranian officials to take "swift and explicit" action to address the fallout from the dust storm in Khuzestan province.
Ayatollah Khamenei drew attention to the plight of people in southern Iran, who are suffering from the aftermath of floods, triggered by heavy downpours, and dust storms, emphasizing that these issues caused by natural disasters "are truly heartbreaking.”
The Leader said the officials are duty-bound to deal with the problems through hard work and solidarity, and redouble their efforts to find a "certain cure” for them.
Ayatollah Khamenei described flooding as a "great calamity,” which causes heavy losses for people and their families, saying "it is a duty and a necessity” to provide aid to the flood-stricken.
The government officials, who have people on their minds, cannot remain unmoved and indifferent in the face of such problems, he added.
Last week, torrential rain triggered flooding across the south, from Khuzestan Province near the Iraqi border to Sistan-Baluchestan Province on the border with Pakistan.
Khuzestan has been reeling from sandstorms, which are said to originate in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The recent downpours have washed filaments of dust and sand into power transmission equipment, leading to long outages and affecting water supplies, a situation which has disrupted normal life in Ahvaz, the provincial capital, and other cities in the province.
On Saturday, Iranian President Rouhani attended an emergency session of the Crisis Management Center in Tehran, where he tasked his deputy Es’haq Jahangiri, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli and Khuzestan Governor Gholamreza Shariati with resolving the crisis at the earliest.
He also expressed sympathy with those affected and assured local people that the government was determined to address the root cause of the problems and deal with environmental issues.
Masoumeh Ebtekar, a vice president in charge of environmental affairs, called on Iraq to implement an agreement to prevent dust storms by spreading mulch over 3,500 square miles (9,000 square kilometers) of desert.
The sandstorm temporarily cut off power and water to much of the Khuzestan province, and reduced oil production by 700,000 barrels per day. The IRNA news agency quoted a local health official as saying that 218 people were hospitalized for respiratory problems because of the storm.
Last week hundreds of Iranians protested in the city of Ahvaz, demanding the resignation of Ebtekar and the provincial governor. Authorities have since banned protests over the issue.
Official say the dust storms originate in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and has urged authorities in those countries to combat the problem with irrigation projects and other measures.