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An Iranian general has accused Israel of causing climate change in the Islamic Republic by stealing the water out of clouds passing over the Mediterranean, Newsweek reported Monday.

During an agricultural conference in Tehran, Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, claimed Iranian scientific centers have proven that Israel and an unnamed neighboring country were secretly cooperating to extract the moisture out of clouds due to pass over Iran.

“Joint teams from Israel and one of the neighboring countries make the clouds entering into Iran barren. Moreover, we are faced with the cases of cloud theft and snow theft,” Jalali said, according to a translation reported by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency of comments featured by the Iranian Students’ News Agency.

He cited a recent four-year study showing that all highlands exceeding roughly 7,200 feet extending from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean have received snowfall except for Iran.

Jalali’s claims were contradicted by Ahad Vazife, the director general of the Weather Forecast and Early Warning Office at the official Iran Meteorological Organization. He said wasn’t familiar with the referenced source material and argued that the entire region was being affected by a drought, not just Iran.

“Based on meteorological information, there is no possibility that a country will steal snow or clouds,” Vazife told the Iranian Students’ News Agency in a follow-up piece.

He added that, if it was possible for a country to steal clouds, the U.S. would not be suffering its own water shortage — Washington would just steal it from other countries in its vapor form.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher