Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Nov. 29, 2018 – “Chabahar is important not only because it is one of the most successful free areas of Iran, not only because it’s the only oceanic port of the country, not only because it has one of the most beautiful places in the world… Chabahar is important because it is a paradise of unknowns that will astonish any tourist with its beauties.”
That is how a state-run Iranian website describes Chabahar in an ad aimed at tourists. But in reality, while Chabahar is a paradise for tourists, it is also a living hell for its citizens.
Chabahar is the only oceanic port of Iran, located in the southeast fringes of the country in the poor province of Sistan Baluchistan. This strategic port is inhabited by hardworking and hospitable people who are unfortunately struggling with extreme poverty imposed by the ruling mullahs and the notorious Revolutionary Guards.
Markets in Chabahar are making the ruling mullahs richer while making its citizens poorer
Chabahar is one of the free-trade regions of the country, which effectively makes it a very lucrative venue for the IRGC’s smuggling activities. The port has become one of the “light-off” ports of the Revolutionary Guards, which means they use it to smuggle goods in and out of the country without documenting them. The IRGC uses this port for a variety of illicit activities, including the transfer of funds and weapons to their terrorist proxies.
Looking at Chabahar’s beauties, any observer would conclude that its people would have to live in happiness. But under the rule of the mullahs, Chabahar has become one of the poorest and most underprivileged areas of the country and its people are living in utter misery.
Chabahar has now effectively become the dominion of India, and the employment situation for the locals of the city has become even less favorable as workers from the contracting country pour into the port city.
The government is considering many plans for Chabahar, but the benefits of those plans effectively trickle into the pockets of anyone but the inhabitants of Chabahar.
1 Government plans to create two tourism complexes in Chabar, worth 4tn rials
When you look at state-run news outlets, Chabahar is a beautiful port with unrivaled tourist attractions. And to be fair, the images shown from Chahabar are truly stunning.
On the other hand, Chabahar always plays a special role in the commercial and industrial plans of the regime. Some of these plans include the creation of petrochemical complexes, transit port, joint gas pipeline projects with other states and more.
Even if it had none of these facilities, Chabahar’s beautiful and vast sea would be enough to ensure the comfortable livelihood of its citizens. Chahbahar’s water sources are rich with resources and can feed large portions of the Iranian population, including the Sistan Baluchistan province. However, presently, the poor fishermen of the city are suffering the consequences of the regime’s fishing contracts with other countries, which is making it harder and harder for them to make ends meet every day. Chabahar fishers are now considered strangers in their own waters, where companies from China, South Korea, and Thailand have become dominant and are not leaving any space for the locals.
Local fishermen are the victims of the Iranian regimes contracts with foreign companies
Chabahar previously possessed rich farmlands which was unique across the country. But the non-standard construction projects by the Iranian regime, which are aimed at benefitting regime-owned companies and institutions, the inhabitants of Chabahar are faced with the drying of water sources and subsidence. The same problems that farmers in Isfahan and other areas of the county are facing are now challenging the livelihoods of the people of Chabahar, even though they are living on the sides of a huge ocean.
The lands of the farmers of Chabahar are sinking because government institutions are over-exploiting underground water sources
Like other places in Iran, the people of Chabahar are faced with poverty, drought and unemployment. In addition, the region’s population is faced with increasing oppressive measures by the IRGC and the suppressive forces of the ruling regime, and the people of Chabahar have to weather all the hardships and also face assaults by the IRGC forces.
However, the regime is reaping what it has sowed for four decades as uprisings and protests continue to expand across Iran. The people of Chabahar too, like all other regions of Iran, will sooner or later turn on the tyrants who have deprived them of their most basic rights.
