It was a gushing river that turned the ancient town of Esfahan into a cultural paragon that twice served as capital of the Persian Empire. But today, as it trickles through Iran, the Zayandeh Rud is a dried up battleground.
Thousands of Iranians flooded the barren riverbed last month to protest against the state¡¯s management of water resources during the worst drought in decades. Social media videos showed baton-wielding security forces step in to quell the crowd, leaving some with bloodied faces, including a middle-aged woman cloaked in a black chador.
Deadly clashes also took place this summer in the province of Khuzestan, 290 kilometers away, where decades of oil exploitation has drained wetlands and destroyed once-fertile soil.
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