He made the remarks in reaction to recent claims by Turkish officials that the dust storms in Iran are originating from the Sahara Desert.
Bayati said that satellite images show that the dust storm which swept away the Iranian capital and other Iranian cities on April 7 came from West Mosul in Iraq and south Turkey on the country’s joint border with Iraq.
He attributed the dust storms to the construction of the Ataturk dam over the branches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Turkey which he said is 10 to 15 times bigger than Iranian dams.
9341**7129
Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish