(Tehran Times)
Isa Kalantari

Iran rejected an Israeli offer to help combat the harsh drought it is facing, telling the Jewish state to mind its own business.  

By: United with Israel Staff

An Iranian official rejected an Israeli aid offer to combat the drought the Islamic Republic is suffering from, and instead advised Israel not to stick its nose in Iranian affairs.

Responding to a clip published by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he offered to help save Iranian lives by sharing water technology with them, the head of Iran’s Department of Environment Isa Kalantari retorted by saying that Netanyahu should “wrap up his own mess first” and that Iran’s environment “has nothing to do” with him.

He did not specify the “mess” to which he referred.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry launched a website in Farsi aimed at sharing Israeli water technologies directly with the Iranian people, who are suffering from an unprecedented nationwide drought.

The site provides tips on how to save water and improve use – unique methods which have been refined by Israelis over the decades.

“The Iranian people are victims of a cruel and tyrannical regime that denies them vital water,” Netanyahu said Sunday in a video message recorded in English with Farsi subtitles. “Israel stands with the people of Iran, and that is why I want to help save countless Iranian lives… Millions of Iranian children are suffering due to mismanagement, incompetence and the theft of vital resources by the Iranian regime.”

According to Iran’s meteorological center, 96 percent of Iranians suffer from some degree of drought, while up to 50 million may be forced to leave their homes as a result of the environmental damage. The year was the driest in Iran the past 67 years. This trend has continued for over 30 years, and the constant decline in precipitation indicates that drought will continue and even get worse.

Netanyahu said that like Iran, Israel also faces water shortages and has invented cutting-edge technologies to overcome the challenge.

“The Iranian regime shouts ‘death to Israel.’ 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. We are with you. We will help so that millions of Iranians won’t have to suffer. The hatred of Iran’s regime will not stop the respect and the friendship between our two peoples,” Netanyahu concluded.

Iran Repeatedly Rejects Israeli Aid

Israel has previously offered humanitarian aid to the people of Iran, which has been rejected by the regime.

In November 2017, Israel offered aid to the Islamic Republic after it was hit by a powerful earthquake, but was turned down.

“This shows the true face of the Iranian regime,” an official in Netanyahu’s office said.

In 2003, Tehran rejected a similar Israeli offer of assistance after a quake in the southeastern Iranian city of Bam killed more than 26,000 people. In 2012, when two quakes hit the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, killing more than 300 people and injuring 3,000, Israel did not offer assistance, citing the rejected offer.

Iran does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and often threatens to destroy it.