Earlier this Monday, an Iranian general had accused Israel of preventing rail over the Islamic republic by manipulating the weather. Before the nation’s weather chief had contradicted him, the general went to the lengths of stating that his country was facing some major cloud ‘theft’.

The head of Iran’s Civil Defence Organisation, Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, told a press conference, “The changing climate in Iran is suspect. Foreign interference is suspected to have played a role in climate change.” Further adding, “Israel and another country in the region have joint teams which work to ensure clouds entering Iranian skies are unable to release rain.”

Jalali insists that the results are from an Iranian scientific study and can also confirm the claim. “On top of that, we are facing the issue of cloud and snow theft”, he adds by citing a survey that shows 2,200 metres of all the mountainous areas the hails between the Mediterranean and Afghanistan are covered in snow, except for that of Iran.

The head of Iran’s meteorological service Ahad Vazife mentions in a statement that, “General Jalali “probably has documents of which I am not aware, but on the basis of meteorological knowledge, it is not possible for a country to steal snow or clouds.”

In reference to the same he also adds, “Iran has suffered a prolonged drought, and this is a global trend that does not apply only to Iran. Raising such questions not only does not solve any of our problems, but will deter us from finding the right solutions.”

In 2011, the former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had accused Western countries of devising devious plans to “cause drought” in Iran. He also went on further to state, “European countries used special equipment to force clouds to dump” their water on their continent.