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The Floods and the Mullahs

(Gatestone Institute) Amir Taheri - The current nationwide floods in Iran are one of the biggest natural disasters Iran has suffered in half a century. The floods struck over 300 towns and cities in 22 of Iran's 31 provinces, affecting 18.5 million people, almost a quarter of the total. The natural disaster has also revealed some of the fundamental weaknesses of Iran's dysfunctional system. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was forced to intervene to protect some of the infrastructures it has built and runs as businesses. It was soon revealed that those infrastructures, including railway lines built in traditional flood channels and dams hastily erected in wrong places and wrong rivers, massively contributed to the floods. The IRGC has built over 300 crude dams to divert waters of various rivers to land it had transferred to its officers. The IRGC has also helped many peasants cut down large tracts of forests, further raising the risk of floods. Iranians watched in amazement as special units of the regular army moved to save lives, prevent floods from spreading further, reopen roads and even start repairing some of the damage. The IRGC reacted by ferrying in dozens of Madaheen, professional reciters of religious chants whose patron is "Supreme Guide" Khamenei. The Madaheen jumped into the flood waters chanting, "Suffering makes us strong!" and "We are not afraid of death," while beating their chests. The writer was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979.
2019-04-08 00:00:00
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