BICOM

One protestor was killed on Saturday at a demonstration against water shortages in the city of Khorramshahr according to Iranian social media sources.

Videos shared online on Saturday night and Sunday morning showed protesters throwing stones and confronting security forces with sounds of heavy rifle and machine-gun fire.

The Al Arabiya network reported that four people had been killed in the protests, although Iranian media outlets have not reported casualties and CNN has been unable to confirm the number of dead. The Persian daily Kayhan London reported that 12 people had been injured and an unknown number of people arrested although it emphasised that it could not confirm the figures.

The Iranian news agency, IRNA, confirmed that there had been fighting between protesters and security forces. The agency said police fired tear gas canisters at the demonstrators, who responded by throwing stones and damaging public property. On Sunday afternoon, Iranian state television reported that “peace had returned”to Khorramshahr and an unspecified number of protesters had been arrested.

Khorramshahr is a mainly Arab city near the Iraqi border, 400 miles southwest of Tehran. The initially peaceful protests highlighted the lack of clean water in the city began on Friday. They also took place in Abadan and other areas of Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province, with protesters chanting in both Arabic and Farsi.

The Iran Meteorological Organisation estimates 97 per cent of the country face some form of drought. Analysts also blame government mismanagement for diverting water away from some farmers in favour of others.

The weekend’s protests followed three days of demonstrations last week in Tehran, during which protesters confronted police outside parliament and officers fired tear gas at the demonstrators. The rallies led to the temporary closure of the city’s Grand Bazaar. Those protests were sparked by the Iranian Rial plunging to 90,000 to the US dollar and against the decision by US President Donald Trump’s to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal and restore sanctions in May.

Late last year there were protests in 75 Iranian cities and towns resulting in 25 people being killed and 5,000 arrested.