Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video Sunday in which he offered Israel’s water expertise to an Iran he said faces an environmental disaster due to persistent drought.

“Today I’m going to make an unprecedented offer to Iran,” Netanyahu said in the English-language video, which featured links to the State of Israel’s Persian website with information about water shortage, and to a Persian-language Telegram account.

“It relates to water,” Netanyahu says in the video, after pouring himself a glass of water and drinking it. “The Iranian people are victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies them vital water. Israel stands with the people of Iran.”

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Netanyahu stressed a commitment to help the Iranians. “And that is why I want to help save countless Iranian lives,” he said in the video clip. “Here’s how: Iran’s meteorological organization says that nearly 96% of Iran suffers from some levels of drought.

“Issa Kalantari, a former Iranian agriculture minister, said that 50 million Iranians could be forced out of their homes due to environmental damage. 50 million!

“Millions of Iranian children are suffering due to mismanagement, to incompetence, and the theft of vital resources by the Iranian regime,” he said.

Netanyahu told the Iranians that Israel faced similar water issues and found ways of dealing with them.

“Now, Israel also has water challenges. We’ve developed cutting edge technologies to address them,” he explained in the video. “Israel recycles nearly 90% of its waste water. That’s far more than any other country on earth. We invented drip irrigation. Our technology targets individual plants with exactly the nutrients they need for the plant.”

He then said that Israeli technology can help the Iranians.

“Israel has the know-how to prevent environmental catastrophe in Iran. I want to share this information with the people of Iran,” he said.

However, the prime minister said there was a catch — Israelis were unable to visit Iran to share their solutions.

“Sadly, Iran bans Israelis from visiting, so we’ll have to get creative,” he said in the video. “We will launch a Farsi website with detailed plans on how Iranians can recycle their waste water. We will show how Iranian farmers can save their crops and feed their families.”

He pointed out the contrast between the Israeli mentality and that of the Iranians.

“The Iranian regime shouts, ‘Death to Israel!'” he said. “In response, Israel shouts, “Life to the Iranian people!

“The people of Iran are good and decent. They shouldn’t have to face such a cruel regime alone,” Netanyahu said in the video. “We are with you. We will help so that millions of Iranians don’t have to suffer. The hatred of Iran’s regime will not stop the respect and friendship between our two peoples.”

“Over 90 percent of the country’s population and economic production are located in areas of high or very high water stress,” Claudia Sadoff, director general of the International Water Management Institute, has told Al-Monitor. This “represents more people and more production at risk than any other country in the Middle East and North Africa.”