Politics of Khuzestan province

The province's location (bordering Iraq) and its oil resources make it a politically-sensitive region due to its history of foreign intervention, notably the 1980 Iraqi invasion.

"[2] Former Iranian minister of agriculture Mohammad Reza Eskandari, Mohsen Rezaee (secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council), and several parliamentary committee chairs are from Khuzestan.

Amnesty International routinely raises human rights concerns relating to Khuzestan's Arabs through linking with separatists websites who provide information, in particular the arrest and detention of political activists, torture and executions.

This is apparently part of a strategy aimed at the forcible relocation of Arabs to other areas while facilitating the transfer of non-Arabs into Khuzestan and is linked to economic policies such as zero interest loans which are not available to local Arabs.In 1997, Human Rights Watch reported that "Iranian Arabs, an ethnic minority centered in southwest Iran, have cited significant restrictions on their language and culture, and on their right to participate effectively in decisions affecting the area in which they live.

"[5] In 2005, separatist groups claimed that there was "inadequate attention to their culture and language by state media, facing discrimination in getting jobs, unfair distribution of Khuzestan's oil wealth."

"[6] After a July 2005 visit to Khuzestan, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing Miloon Kothari reported that industrial and agricultural development had displaced Arabs from their land and they were compensated a fraction of its market value.

He also drew attention to the Laks (an Iranian people native to the province), calling them "... a very deprived group ... living in conditions of high density, again without access to adequate sanitation and water.

The resolution condemns the treatment of minorities such as ... the inhabitants of the area around Ahwaz city, the provincial capital of the ethnic Arab dominated Khuzestan province, who are being displaced from their villages according to statements by Miloon Kothari, UN Rapporteur on Adequate Housing.

Ali Al-Taie, a member of the federalist Democratic Solidarity Party of Ahwaz, said during a debate: "When it comes to ethnic rights, Persian opposition groups are on the same side as the terrorist Islamic Republic.

The government also objected to Al Jazeera's interview with a member of the separatist Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front (ADPF), who spoke about "80 years of Iranian occupation in Khuzestan".

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani finished second in Khuzestan (receiving the highest number of votes nationally), followed by conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (winner of the second round).