Howeyzeh, Ahwaz Region — In a significant and internationally ignored development last week, Majid Nabi Pour, the head of the Ahwaz Agricultural Organisation, announced the Iranian regime’s issuance of a decree announcing the seizure of 40,000 more hectares of agricultural land in the Jafir area, near the city of Howeyzeh in the western Ahwaz region. This latest land confiscation is part of the so-called ‘Jafir Agricultural Plan,’ which has attracted scrutiny and concern from local Ahwazi residents and observers further afield alike.
The Jafir area is home to a network of oil fields that stretch deep into the heart of the historic Howeyzeh marshlands. It contains the largest oil field in the country and the third largest in the world. Yet, amid this resource wealth, local Ahwazi Arab residents face a dire existence. The local Ahwazi population teeters precariously on the brink of despair, fighting for survival and haunted by pervasive impoverishment.
For two decades, Iranian and Chinese petrol companies have collaborated on drilling and prospecting in this area, uncovering new oil seams in these Ahwazi lands that promise to be among the world’s most productive oil fields. This collaboration has drawn the global business community to these lucrative resources. However, this narrative often overlooks the struggles of the local Ahwazi population, who face decades of systemic oppression and colonisation. Amid the clamour for profits and progress, their enduring marginalisation remains largely unseen, casting a long and terrible shadow over the region’s economic gains.
The directive will affect numerous Ahwazi villagers who currently own and farm the land in question. Under the new plan, this land will be allocated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and subsequently distributed to retired IRGC members, along with financial resources to support their investment in the confiscated properties. According to regime statements, the land will be assigned to 13 cooperative agricultural organisations run by these retired military individuals and other younger state officials. These organisations, which operate outside the purview of the Iranian government, claim to be focused on agricultural development but, in reality, function as economic security units directly associated with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s institutions.
Iranian media have largely refrained from addressing the ownership status of the targeted lands, which belong entirely to impoverished and marginalised rural Ahwazi communities who are deprived of essential services, including access to employment in nearby local oil companies and even water for irrigating their crops.
The roots of this contentious issue can be traced back to the Iran-Iraq War. The Jafir region, like many border areas in Ahwaz, has deep-seated historical ties to Iraq, encompassing national, cultural, tribal, and economic dimensions, as well as a shared Arab heritage. During the war, many Ahwazi rural residents in this area fled to Iraq for safety but returned home after the conflict ended. Upon their return, they faced systemic repression from the Iranian regime, which engaged in punitive measures such as imprisonment, revocation of nationalities, and confiscation of property, accusing the local people of being a fifth column and ‘agents’ of the then-Iraqi government.
These wholly false accusations have exacted a heavy toll on the majority of the local Ahwazi population in the Jafir area, being used to justify regular brutal crackdowns by Iranian security forces whenever the people protest ethnic discrimination in employment and the ongoing land grabs by state oil companies and IRGC-affiliated organisations, who charge locals protesting this blatant criminality with security-related offences.
In the past two decades, the Jafir district has witnessed the discovery of further massive oil reserves, leading to the local population being forced by the regime to relinquish their lands for oil drilling. This has resulted in local villages being surrounded by several oil wells that release gas emissions around the clock, causing the local villagers to suffer various types of cancer and respiratory diseases. Their suffering is further compounded by their being denied employment in these oil-drilling projects, and their remaining farmland faces a lack of water for irrigation or what water is available being contaminated by oil spills. As a result, many of these local rural Ahwazi communities have been forced to move to nearby cities, where they live in miserable, squalid conditions. Those villagers who resisted poverty and the Iranian government’s intentional policy to prevent water from flowing from the local river to their lands have now received another harsh blow, as the regime has ordered the confiscation of 40,000 hectares of their farmlands. They are left with one option: to remain in their villages without land to farm, without water to drink, relying only on seasonal rains, or to suffer and starve indefinitely.
Khaled Neisi, a young villager from the Jafir district, says, “While the depths of our lands are filled with natural resources such as oil and gas, and their surfaces are filled with flowing rivers, our people die every day tormented by the wealth in their lands that passes before their eyes without them receiving even a crumb of it… It is not surprising that the people of Ahwaz revolt every year – it’s strange that they don’t do so more. It is strange that they surrender to unemployment, imposed poverty, and marginalisation while they are the people of a rich region swimming in wells of oil or ‘black gold.’ We suffer the harshest forms of poverty while being a stone’s throw from wealth; we see it with our own eyes but cannot reach it, like a mirage in the desert. All we had were these lands, which we hoped to cultivate, but now even they have been taken away, with all these stolen lands being granted to the IRGC and its members. Like other projects, they will build a nice town for their settlers to work and live here, while we have nowhere to turn.”
He concluded by stating that “the Iranian central government views the local Ahwazi population, living near its oil and gas wells, as a threat and a security risk. As a result, they have implemented measures to oppress the entire population living in the border area with Iraq. These actions include denying them jobs, restricting access to water for their lands and villages, and now seizing nearly all their land. The aim is to replace the local Ahwazi residents with settlers loyal to the regime, effectively further diminishing the Ahwazi presence. This strategy seeks to reduce the Ahwazis from a majority population to a small minority, limiting their ability to assert political and economic rights or to govern their own lands through self-governance in the future.”
“They clearly admitted this several times. For example, when the then-President Rafsanjani took over the sugarcane projects in other parts of Ahwaz, he stated that while this project might not generate significant economic profit for Iran, it would certainly serve security interests. The sugarcane projects involved taking over lands [belonging to Ahwazis] near the Iraqi border, and the intention was to enhance security in the area by altering its demographic composition, implying that the Ahwazi people pose a threat to Iran.”
In a move emblematic of longstanding policies against the Ahwazis, the Iranian central government has historically employed land confiscation under various pretexts as a method of control and punishment. This systematic approach reflects broader strategies aimed at marginalising Ahwazi residents and altering the demographic makeup of their region, exacerbating their socio-economic hardships while retaining control over vital agricultural and water resources.
As the situation develops, it remains to be seen how local communities will respond to the ongoing governmental encroachments on their lives and livelihoods.
Ahwazi Political and Human Rights Organisations Condemn Iranian Government’s Land Confiscation Plans
In a resolute statement released this week, Ahwazi human rights and political organisations, including the Ahwazi Assembly, have strongly denounced the Iranian government’s proposed plan to expropriate 40,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Jafir area.
The statement highlights that these lands serve as a crucial livelihood source for the indigenous Ahwazi population. The Ahwazi Assembly stated that the Iranian government intends to seize these lands for the establishment of military barracks and resettlement projects designed to accommodate Persian and Lor settlers, thus orchestrating a systematic alteration of the region’s demographic landscape. This initiative aims to marginalise the local rural Ahwazi population and undermine their historical and cultural presence.
Another noteworthy point is the historical context of land confiscation in the Ahwaz region that has been carried out for decades under the guise of economic development projects, with organisations recalling the 1950s when the former Shah’s government forcibly appropriated vast tracts of land in Susa, Tester, Falahiyah, and Muhammarah as part of the ‘Sugar Cane Project.’
Promoted as an economic venture, this Sugar Cane Project ultimately failed to fulfil its intended purpose; this has not stopped the current regime from pursuing it. It has resulted in large-scale catastrophic environmental degradation that worsens every year as soil is leached of its nutrients, with vast tracts of land seized from local Ahwazi villagers. This project has also contaminated the remaining lands belonging to the local rural Ahwazi population, with the sugarcane processing plants dumping their wastewater full of toxic chemicals used in the processing back into nearby rivers and onto the villagers’ lands, polluting the soil and making the land unusable and barren; at least five million of the date palms for which the region has been renowned for centuries, which rely on groundwater for irrigation, have perished as a result of this toxic pollution. Successive Iranian administrations have perpetuated these policies under various pretexts, including oil extraction and agricultural development, with the regime’s practices and those of the settlers it transfers to the Ahwazi areas exacerbating regional unemployment and inequality.
The Ahwazi Assembly has explicitly condemned the current regime’s ongoing land confiscations, linking these actions to the significant protests that have erupted in the Ahwaz region. The statement underscores the potential repercussions of such policies, framing them not only as violations of human rights but also as infringements on international law regarding indigenous people’s rights to their lands.
In a pointed analysis of the issue, Kamil Alboshoka, an expert and researcher on international law and human rights with a focus on the Ahwazi people’s plight, articulated the dire implications of Iran’s settlement initiatives in Ahwaz, framing these as calculated efforts to appropriate land and resources, with the regime using pretexts such as sugarcane cultivation and agricultural projects to justify these land grabs. “Such initiatives,” he noted, “are intrinsically linked to settlement programs designed to accommodate migrant workers who contribute to these exploitative projects. This strategy of land grabbing and granting this stolen land to IRGC members under the guise of agricultural projects underscores a colonial agenda, whereby Iran seeks to solidify control over Ahwazi lands, systematically eroding the rights and very existence of its native Ahwazi population.”
Alboshoka’s insights delve into what he describes as necropolitics—a term introduced by political theorist Achille Mbembe to elucidate how sovereign powers regulate life and death. This notion provides a critical lens through which to assess Iran’s policies in the region, which are manifested in several alarming ways.
Control Over Land and Resources
The Iranian government’s appropriation of land through initiatives like the ‘Jafir Agricultural Plan’ exemplifies a broader trend of dispossession. Not only does this systematic confiscation alienate Ahwazi villagers from their traditional agricultural livelihoods, but it also severs their cultural and historical ties to the land itself. By denying these communities their means of sustenance, the state denies their fundamental autonomy, rendering them powerless and expendable in the pursuit of national interests. The allocation of these lands to the IRGC further underscores the regime’s priorities, favouring its own military and political elites at the expense of impoverished locals.
Population Management and Demographic Engineering
The state’s strategy to resettle non-Arab populations in Ahwaz serves as a stark example of demographic engineering, whereby the government manipulates population dynamics to undermine the Ahwazis—a long-colonised people perceived as a political threat. This attempt to reshape demographic realities accentuates a form of necropolitics that prioritises the marginalisation of a distinct cultural identity, effectively curtailing the political and economic agency of the local population.
Suppression of the Ahwazi People’s Resistance and Rights
Alboshoka highlights the violent repression faced by Ahwazi protesters who dare to resist these oppressive measures. The Iranian state’s characterisation of dissidents as security threats serves to justify the brutal tactics employed against them, reinforcing the lethal dimensions of sovereign power exercised over lives within this contested space. The denial of access to economic opportunities and state resources further entrenches the community’s marginalisation, pushing them precariously close to the brink of destitution.
Health and Environmental Impact
In addition to the ongoing land confiscation, the environmental toll of oil extraction in the region, combined with deliberately negligent governance, reveals another layer of necropolitics. While state officials and industry elites reap vast financial rewards from the stolen natural resources, local inhabitants are left grappling with dire health issues as a result of the vast toxic pollution unleashed, including severe respiratory conditions and abnormally high cancer rates. This disregard for the well-being of the Ahwazi people speaks volumes about the systemic devaluation of their lives in favour of economic gain.
Historical Context and Legacy of Oppression
Alboshoka’s analysis is deepened by the historical background of this issue, which shows the longstanding injustices faced by Ahwazis, especially since the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, illustrating a continuous pattern of necropolitical oppression. The punitive measures imposed upon the Ahwazi people reflect an enduring strategy to erase their identity and their historical claims to their lands, reinforcing their marginalised status within a contentious national narrative. Ultimately, the Iranian government’s policies toward the Ahwazi population epitomise the deeply disturbing realities of necropolitics, wherein life is not just controlled but frequently rendered disposable based on ethnic and political identity.
Alboshoka’s examination not only spotlights the personal and communal toll of state power on the Ahwazi people but also invokes fundamental questions regarding human rights, self-determination, and the broader implications for the socio-political landscape within Iran. Such understanding is vital for comprehending the protracted legacy of colonisation and oppression endured by the Ahwazi Arabs and the ramifications for their future.
Lena Kaabi, an Ahwazi human rights activist based in London, echoes Kamil’s sentiments on the dire situation facing the Ahwazi people, whom she describes as enduring the harsh consequences of Iran’s colonial policies that revolve around land confiscation and marginalisation of Ahwazi Arabs. She argues that these policies not only dictate who has the right to live, but also who is relegated to suffering and death. At the core of this situation lies the concept of necropolitics, a term that refers to a state’s exercise of power over life and death, leaving Ahwazis vulnerable to cycles of state violence, deprivation, and displacement within their ancestral lands.
The Iranian regime, Kaabi asserts, wields its power with lethal precision. When Ahwazi people protest land confiscation and ethnic oppression, they face gunfire from security forces as they demand their fundamental rights and assert ownership of their land—demonstrating the regime’s chilling resolve to suppress dissent. Yet the violence inflicted on the local rural Ahwazi communities goes beyond bullets; it encompasses the slow erosion of their livelihoods through economic policies that prioritise state benefits over livelihoods that come from land and farming.
The Ahwazi lands, once famously fertile and rich in sustenance and cultural identity, are now the target of unrelenting exploitation, intensifying the people’s desperate struggle for survival. Protests against these systemic injustices often lead to immediate and fatal reprisals from the regime, a stark reminder of a violent apparatus keen on quashing opposition. This notion of necropolitics vividly illustrates a reality in which the state manipulates fear and violence, determining who merits survival and who does not.
Every aspect of the Ahwazi people’s lives is restricted and overshadowed by the devastating consequences of living under a regime that prioritises profit over humanity. For the Ahwazi people, existence has become synonymous with violence, neglect, and despair—a stark reflection of the tragic implications of necropolitics and a haunting reminder of how power dictates the very nature of human life.
In conclusion, the systematic ethnic oppression against the Ahwazis endures, too often ignored by an international community hesitant to engage with the complexities of their plight. This persistent neglect hampers the efforts of advocates striving to bring attention to the Ahwazi cause. It also creates formidable challenges for Ahwazi media and human rights and political organisations in Western nations, which grapple with scant resources yet tenaciously work to illuminate the suffering faced by the Ahwazi people.
The Ahwazi people have fallen victim to their geopolitical location and the wealth of their land, which has attracted the destructive scourge of Iranian colonisation. They have been systematically stripped of their rights, while the international community has cast their suffering into the neglected annals of history. The result is a tragic reality where the Ahwazis are left to struggle for the very existence of their cultural and ethnic identity and their right to life.
The pervasive ignorance surrounding their situation, compounded by the censorship imposed by Iranian authorities and even Iranian media in the West, further obscures their reality. The human rights of the Ahwazis under Iranian colonial rule, alongside the indifference of the international community toward their plight, seem almost mythical and unattainable, especially when weighed against the forces that resist humanity, freedom, and decolonisation. This indifference not only emboldens the Iranian regime to continue its colonial practices without fear of repercussions but also diminishes the importance of the Ahwazi issue in the world. Sadly, the cause of the Ahwazis fades further into the margins of regional and global discourse, their voices muffled amid a cacophony of competing crises.
The silence that envelops the Ahwazi plight is not just a disservice to their suffering; it is a stark reminder of the pressing need for heightened awareness and advocacy to combat systemic oppression. This ongoing multifaceted oppression is not merely a series of isolated incidents; it is the culmination of a century of colonisation and occupation that has systematically sought to erode and dismantle the rights of the Ahwazi people, including their rights to land ownership.
By Rahim Hamid
Rahim Hamid, an Ahwazi freelance journalist at Dialogue Institute for Research and Studies.
* Terminology Clarification Note:
- In my article, I used the terms “native population“ and “indigenous,” and here I will explain what they mean in the context of the Ahwazi national narrative. The Ahwazi people once inhabited their own sovereign emirates prior to the occupation and colonisation of their territories by Iran. Following Iranian control over Ahwaz, successive Iranian regimes have fostered narratives that fundamentally undermine the Ahwazi identity, often portraying them as immigrants from other Arab nations. Such narratives not only delegitimise their undeniable connection to the land but also imply that Ahwazi Arabs should express gratitude for being recognized as Iranian citizens, despite the pervasive inequalities they face. In reality, the Ahwazi people exist as fifth-class citizens within a system that systematically marginalises them across various dimensions of life.
- The nomenclature employed by the Iranian regime—and even by certain Iranian opposition groups—reflects a deliberate distortion of Ahwazi identity; they are frequently labelled as “Arabized” or “Arabic speakers” rather than being recognised as Ahwazi and Arab. This rhetoric serves to disconnect their presence in their ancestral lands, reducing them to the status of a mere minority and not a distinct people who live on their own historic lands, thereby undermining their legitimate rights and aspirations.
- Furthermore, the Ahwazi people confront significant obstacles in attaining recognition on the international stage. They are not a minority; they constitute the majority population within their own territories, despite enduring land confiscation, settler colonialism, and ongoing efforts to alter the demographic landscape in favor of settlers from other Iranian regions. These actions aim to dilute and diminish the indigenous character of the Ahwazis, undermining the cultural and political integrity of the Ahwazi people and their homeland, Ahwaz.
- In their efforts to articulate their circumstances and reaffirm their rightful ownership of their ancestral lands, Ahwazis increasingly identify as indigenous peoples in both media discourse and international forums, such as the United Nations. This assertion is part of a broader strategy to illuminate their plight and reclaim their narrative from the shadows of colonisation.
- Historically, the status of Ahwaz is that of a colonised people, rather than simply a demographic minority within Iran. The Iranian colonial narrative seeks to reframe the position of the Ahwazis by categorizing them as merely an ethnic group, thereby reducing their rich identity to a matter of mere numbers. Yet, no accurate population count exists in Iran, and the true number of Ahwazis remains obscured. While the regime may assert that Ahwazis represent a minority relative to other groups, such as Persians, the reality is that the Ahwazis are, in fact, the majority within their own territories. The pursuit of their rights is a fundamental endeavour for the Ahwazi people, who seek not only recognition but also the preservation of their existence and the decolonisation of Iranian control that threatens to displace them from their lands. Their struggle for autonomy and self-determination is rooted in an aspiration to secure their collective rights and ensure that they are not relegated to the status of a passive community but rather empowered as agents of their own destiny. The cause of the Ahwazi people transcends mere ethnic representation; it is a profound struggle for justice, dignity, and the reclamation of their rightful place within the narrative of their homeland.