‘It’s truly hell here’: airstrikes, repression and water shortages become ‘new normal’ for Iranians.
Iranians describe how daily life is becoming ever harder as conflict continues and human rights crisis worsens.
(…) A strike in June on water facilities in the coastal city of Sirik also reportedly left thousands of residents rationing water and struggling with daily chores.
Nik Kowsar, a US-based Iranian journalist and water issues analyst, said the war was having a severe impact on civilians – and such concerns did not equate to support for the country’s rulers. “Iranians can despise the regime and want the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] dismantled while still being horrified by attacks that leave ordinary families without water, electricity, medicine or income,” he said.
“Attacking desalination plants in Iran’s hot and dry south is particularly dangerous. When temperatures climb above 40C, losing access to drinking water can quickly become a matter of life and death. Bombing the infrastructure people rely on will not make Iranians embrace those carrying out the attacks. It may weaken the government, but ordinary people pay the immediate price, and the country is left with damage that could take years to repair,” adds Kowsar.
