Abbas Aliabadi, the Minister of Energy, at a session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and in response to a question by Beitollah Abdollahi, a member of parliament from Ahar and Heris, regarding the “delays, neglect, and lack of planning” by the Ministry of Energy to definitively resolve power outages and shortages of drinking water and agricultural water, called the water and power sector “one of the strengths of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and said the blackouts are a result of U.S. attacks.

Aliabadi said: “The enemies of the Revolution and the system have always sought to disrupt the country’s public services.”