Part 6/15:
This ambitious plan was derailed by rapid industrialization, land reforms, and mismanagement. The traditional Persian "connuts"—underground irrigation channels—began to be abandoned in favor of deep wells tapping unsustainable aquifers. Post-Revolution Iran, facing international sanctions and military conflicts with Iraq, intensified dam-building projects, often under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which created a corrupt "water mafia." This network prioritized personal and regime profits over environmental sustainability, diverting rivers to feed industries and enrich regime-linked enterprises, often without environmental oversight.