Iranian Parliament Names Sistan and Baluchistan as Most Deprived Region

A new report by the Iranian Parliament’s Research Center has named Sistan and Baluchistan province as the most deprived region in the country “by a significant margin.”

The report defines deprivation as “limited access to basic necessities like healthcare, education, roads, energy, clean water, and sanitation.”

This lack of development fuels discontent. Since 2022, coinciding with nationwide protests, Sistan and Baluchistan has become a center for demonstrations against discrimination and underdevelopment.

Residents take to the streets each Friday to demand solutions to poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, frequent power and water outages, and declining purchasing power.

The deprivation persists despite the province’s rich resources.

For over four decades, Sistan and Baluchistan has lacked proper infrastructure, leaving many, particularly in the south, without access to clean drinking water and natural gas.

Moienuddin Saeedi, a representative from Chabahar, emphasizes this point: “There isn’t a meter of gas pipeline anywhere in the cities and villages.”

Critics of the Iranian government say that the severe poverty in Sistan and Baluchistan is a deliberate strategy to maintain control.

Zahedan is the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan province, which is home to Iran’s Sunni Baluch minority of up to 2 million people.

The restive city has seen protest rallies almost every Friday since September 30, 2022, when security forces killed nearly 100 people in the deadliest incident in the nationwide demonstrations.