TEHRAN – The special aide to the Iranian parliament speaker on international affair on Wednesday reacted to a series of protests by a group of people in certain cities and villages in the southwestern province of Khuzestan over shortage of water, saying the Khuzestanis are fully aware of the “crocodile tears” by terrorist groups.

“People and tribes of Khuzestan are the formidable fortress of the Islamic Republic of Iran and are part of the Iranian body,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote on his Twitter account.

Amir-Abdollahian added, “The valiant and judicious people of Khuzestan fully realize the crocodile tears of foreigners and terrorist groups. We all make efforts for a developed Khuzestan and developed Iran.”

A number of anti-revolution groups coupled with certain foreign countries have been provoking protests in Khuzestan over shortage of water mostly originating from droughts and cultivation of paddy fields in upstream and provinces neighboring Khuzestan.

PA/PA