A group of residents held a protest rally in southwest Iran against a project to transfer water out of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province, causing water scarcity in their region

During the protest in the provincial capital of Shahrekord on Sunday, protesters carried placards and chanted slogans threatening to take up arms against the ‘mafia’ behind the redistribution project.

The head of the farmers' union of the province, Morteza Derakhshan, said the rally was held to protest the Golab Water transfer Tunnel.

Last week, videos of the second phase of the water transfer project surfaced in social media, despite the opposition of Iran’s Department of Environment to the plan.

The Golab tunnel, with an approximate length of 10 kilometers, The Gulab is supposed to transfer water from the Zayandeh-Roud tributaries in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province to Kashan.

Over 20 people arrested during similar protests seven years ago were sentenced to prison terms and lashes earlier this month after a complaint by Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters, the engineering and construction arm of the Revolutionary Guard.

Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, a traditionally water-rich region in the Zagros mountains, has seen its water resources decline due to both drought and projects to irrigate other arid regions.

Iran has been suffering from drought for at least a decade and this year officials have been warning of a further decrease in precipitation.