Britain has granted Iran 12 water tanker trucks as part of aid to battle a severe drought that has hit the country for the third consecutive year, reported the official Iranian news agency, IRNA.
During a ceremony to hand over the British tanker trucks, UNICEF representative Soulemane Diallo said Britain was presenting the vehicles at the request of the United Nations.
The tanker trucks, offered by the British section for the international development, DFID, are worth $650,000 dollars.
Diallo said that the trucks were to be used to provide service to the drought-hit people in provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Fars and Khorassan.
DFID had granted $2 million to be spent through UNICEF on provision of training and health services to children in need of care and basic amenities in the Islamic republic.
Iran, faced with its third successive year of drought, has rationed water in major cities in the southern, eastern and central provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, Isfahan, Fars, Bushehr, Kerman, Khorasan and Tehran.
A UN official has assessed the drought in Iran as being the worst to hit the entire region, adding that the damage it has inflicted is far greater than that in previous years.
A study conducted by the water organization has shown that some 27 percent of the country's drinking water is wasted through improper consumption and distribution patterns – Albawaba.com
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