Aid plea for drought-stricken Iran

The United Nations is calling on international donors to provide immediate help for Iran to cope with the most devastating drought it's suffered for thirty years.

In a special report to be presented at a meeting in Geneva later this week, the UN urges donor countries to distribute drinking water for people, and to provide other help to save agriculture and livestock.

The drought, arising from two consecutive years of little or no rainfall, has affected half Iran's sixty-two million population.

The UN report said the Iranian government had responded with a great effort but its capabilities and resources were being overwhelmed by the enormous scale of the disaster.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service