A top Iranian general is blaming Iran’s drought on “cloud and snow theft,” allegedly masterminded by Israel.

In the midst of another severe drought, Iranian Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali blamed Israel at a press conference for its dry weather, insisting that the Islamic Republic has fallen prey to the Jewish State stealing its rain.

“The changing climate in Iran is suspect,” charged Jalali, as reported by the semi-official ISNA news agency, according to the Times of Israel (TOI).

Just blame it on Israel …

The head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization went on claim that results from a scientific study conducted in Iran “confirm” the validity behind his wild accusation directed mostly at Israel.

“Foreign interference is suspected to have played a role in climate change,” Jalali insisted. “Israel and another country in the region have joint teams which work to ensure clouds entering Iranian skies are unable to release rain.”

Not stopping there, the Iranian military leader cited an Iranian survey indicating that every mountainous region above 7,218 feet in elevation between Afghanistan and the Mediterranean Sea are covered with snow – except Iran’s.

“On top of that, we are facing the issue of cloud and snow theft,” Jalali pointed out – again blaming Israel for the lack of precipitation.

Iran’s top weatherman not in agreement

Even the head of the Islamic Republic’s meteorological service, Ahad Vazife, acknowledged that Jalali’s allegations of Israel stealing Iran’s precipitation were illogical and scientifically impossible.

“[General Jalali] probably has documents of which I am not aware, but on the basis of meteorological knowledge, it is not possible for a country to steal snow or clouds,” Vazife was quoted by ISNA, according to TOI.

Unwilling to corroborate the findings, Vazife attempted to set the record straight by reminding Iranians that drought is not Iran’s problem alone, and that blaming other countries for a lack of rain and snow is counterproductive.

“Iran has suffered a prolonged drought, and this is a global trend that does not apply only to Iran,” the Iranian weather expert impressed, according to the Daily Mail. “Raising such questions not only does not solve any of our problems, but will deter us from finding the right solutions.”

A familiar charge

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a similar accusation about rain theft against Iran’s enemies seven years ago, when he claimed that Western nations conspired to “cause drought” in Iran.

“[Western nations devised plans to] cause drought [in Iran], Ahmadinejad charged back in 2011. “European countries used special equipment to force clouds to dump [their water on their continent].”

In the face of the unsubstantiated and far-fetched allegations, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Iranians in a video last month offering Israel’s expertise on how to solve the Islamic Republic’s water crisis.

“[T]he Iranian people are victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies them vital water,” Netanyahu asserted in the video, before offering Israel’s advice.

Instead of blaming his enemies for Israel’s own drought conditions, the Israeli leader shared with Iran how scientists have led the way to solve problems and improve water conditions.

“Netanyahu told the Iranians that Israel faced similar water issues and found ways of dealing with them, adding that Israeli technology can help the Iranians,” TOI’s recounted.

Adding to Iran’s troubles

In addition to President Donald Trump bowing out the Obama’s administration’s Iran nuclear deal and its ongoing financial crisis, water shortages have been another leading cause of civil unrest in Iran for more than a dozen years.

“Iran is the latest example of a country where a water crisis – long in the making – has fed popular discontent,” the New York Times pointed out earlier this year. “That is particularly true in small towns and cities in what is already one of the most parched regions of the world. Farms turned barren, lakes became dust bowls. Millions moved to provincial towns and cities, and joblessness led to mounting discontent among the young. Then came a crippling drought, lasting roughly 14 years.”

Stimson Center Analyst David Michel indicated that even though water shortages are not only reason behind the outbreak of protests in Iran beginning in January, he stressed – as Netanyahu did in his video – that the Iranian government’s failure to deliver basic services is a major motivator, as Iranians have experienced dry taps in urban areas, dry wells in rural regions and dust storms from Lake Urmia, which is only a tenth of the size it was in the 1970s.

“Water is not going to bring down the government, but it’s a component – in some towns, a significant component – of grievances and frustrations,” Michel explained, according to the New York Times. “Managing water [is the government’s] most important policy challenge.”

Much of Iran’s current water crisis is argued to be self-inflicted and can be blamed on decisions made by Iran’s regime that go back decades.

“Like many countries – from India to Syria – Iran, after the 1979 revolution, set out to be self-sufficient in food,” the New York Times’ Somini Sengupta noted. “It wasn’t a bad goal, in and of itself, but as the Iranian water expert Kaveh Madani points out, it meant that the government encouraged farmers to plant thirsty crops like wheat throughout the country. The government went further by offering farmers cheap electricity and favorable prices for their wheat – effectively a generous two-part subsidy that served as an incentive to plant more and more wheat and extract more and more groundwater.”

Water specialist Claudia Sadoff explained that Iran is using more water than what can be provided naturally from precipitation, lakes, rivers and wells.

“Twenty-five percent of the total water that is withdrawn from aquifers, rivers and lakes exceeds the amount that can be replenished” Sadoff divulged in report for the World Bank, according to the Times.

She went on to note that the depletion rate of Iran’s groundwater is one of the fastest in the world.

“Twelve of [Iran’s] 31 provinces will entirely exhaust their aquifers within the next 50 years,” Sadoff informed.

In fact, the decrease in groundwater is so rapid in some regions of Iraq that it is causing the land to sink.

The Iranian government has historically used water to gain support – to the detriment of most of its citizens.

“Water is a handy political tool, and to curry favor with their rural base, Iran’s leaders – and particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – dammed rivers across the country to divert water to key areas,” Sengupta informed. “As a result, many of Iran’s lakes have shrunk, includ[ing] Lake Urmia – once the region’s largest saltwater lake, which has diminished in size by nearly 90 percent since the early 1970s.”