SAVEH, Central Province A drought which has hit almost half of the country this year has also affected the Central Province and caused hardship to its tribal people, mostly herdsmen.
The Central Province has about 1,000 tribal households who make a living tending some 300,000 livestock. Ninety percent live in the city of Saveh.
Some of the region's tribal families say even in spring and summer they have been forced to feed their livestock with dry forage.
Many tribal people have already moved to neighboring provinces in search of water.
They have also complained of the high cost of livestock breeding and lease of pastures as other problems confronting them in their search for a living.
Esmaeil Mousavi, head of the Center for Tribal Affairs of Central Province, said that five months since the start of the new Iranian calendar year no credit has still been allocated to these drought-stricken people.
For similar reasons, he said the center has also been prevented from delivering their barley requirements.
Iran is experiencing a particularly hot weather this year and a drought which has devastated more than half of the country's 28 provinces.
A United Nations team last week has began evaluating the impact of the widespread drought. Damage caused is estimated at $1.7 billion.
This year's drought is considered more severe than last year's, and has hit mostly the southern, eastern and central areas of the country. It has brought innumerable suffering to 60 percent of the country's rural population.
The drought has already caused a shortage of potable water to more than 12 million people living in urban and rural areas and a water crisis could hit the entire country soon.
It has also affected 8.4 million hectares of orchards, 20 percent of livestock and 9.6 million hectares of forest and woodlands.
The government has recently approved an emergency aid package for $183 million to assist drought-affected farmers.
(IRNA)