TEHRAN- President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran announced on Monday that chiefs of environment organizations from neighboring countries will meet to assess ways on how to counter sand and dust storms (SDSs), Tasnim reported.

Tehran will host the meeting today with the presence of the ministers of 12 countries that are most affected by sand and dust storms in the region.

Experts say Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia are the main sources of dust storms. They also blamed buildings of many dams by Turkey on the routes of the Euphrates and Tigris, which flow into Syria and Iraq, for the dust crisis.

Reportedly, on Monday about 140 Iranian citizens from the southwestern province of Khuzestan were admitted to hospital due to dust storms.

Dust storms has become more recurrent in the current year.

Experts have also blamed mismanagement of water and repeated droughts for SDSs.