TEHRAN -- Iran on Saturday rejected “false accusations” by the UN rights chief on protests over water shortages in the country’s southwest.
Khuzestan has been gripped by drought since March, with protests erupting in several towns and cities which have been manipulated by terrorists and encouraged by Iran’s enemies.
Iranian media and officials have said at least three people have been killed, including a police officer and a protester, amid shooting at demonstrators and security forces by opportunists and rioters.
A fourth person was killed on Thursday and two wounded during rioting in a town in the western province of Lorestan, where a group of rioters had taken to the streets on the pretext of the water problems in Khuzestan.
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Friday told Iran to address the chronic water shortage in Khuzestan as she accused the country of shooting at protesters and arresting them.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Saturday that Bachelet’s comments “on the recent events in Khuzestan are regrettable”, decrying “false accusations and incorrect information”.
The rights chief has failed to consider the government’s “great efforts” to “relieve the suffering of the population”, Khatibzadeh said in a statement, adding that this demonstrated the “political” character of the declaration.
“The water crisis in Khuzestan is the outcome of a series of natural phenomena, particularly this year’s drought, and is also one of the consequences of unilateral coercive measures imposed on our country, which have prevented the transfer of technology and investment in the water sector in Khuzestan,” he said.
He criticized Bachelet for refusing so far to condemn the “illegal sanctions imposed by the United States against the Iranian people which have led to violation of several fundamental human rights of this honorable nation,” saying she has just made few short statements in this regard.
“It seems that the UN rights body is making efforts to sow discord

among the united Iranian nation in line with the political agenda of a few certain countries that harbor grudge against Iranians,” Khatibzadeh said.
“They are the very countries that abuse the noble concept of human rights and are the main supporters of politically-tainted inhumane resolutions against Iran in the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly.”
Khatibzadeh reiterated the Islamic Republic’s respect for the right of its citizens to peaceful gatherings and said high-ranking Iranian officials have recognized the problem of water shortage in Khuzestan.