Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call a day earlier for Iranians to rise up against their government over power and water shortages.

Netanyahu’s video message on Tuesday came as Iran grapples with persistent water and electricity shortages amid spells of hot weather.

It also came just two months after a 12-day war between the arch-foes, which began with Israel’s June 13 attack on Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure, which it said was aimed at preventing the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.

In his remarks, Netanyahu called on Iranians to “take risks for freedom,” “take to the streets” and demand accountability from the Iranian government. He suggested bringing Israeli water experts to provide “cutting-edge technology and know-how” to Tehran.

In a post on X a day later, Pezeshkian hit out at Netanyahu.

“A regime that deprives Gaza of water and food now says it will bring water to Iran? A MIRAGE, NOTHING MORE,” wrote Pezeshkian in both Persian and English.

Iran’s ongoing water shortages have seen water levels in the country’s reservoirs drop dramatically. Pezeshkian warned two weeks ago that “if we cannot manage and people do not cooperate in controlling consumption, there won’t be any water in dams by September or October.”

Elevated temperatures that began in mid-July have also strained Iran’s power grid, prompting rolling blackouts nationwide. The frequent power outages have severely affected industrial output. Last week, Iranian authorities also ordered many government offices to close in a bid to cut power consumption.

Israel is considered one of the world leaders in desalination technology, and has shared its innovations with a number of countries worldwide.

It has also faced harsh criticism over the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where water is scarce after much of the Strip’s infrastructure has been damaged during 22 months of fighting.

Israel says it operates two water pipelines into the Gaza Strip, providing millions of liters of water a day, and also says it is overseeing a UAE project to run a new pipeline that will supply water from a desalination facility in Egypt to Gazans along the coast.

Last month, one of the Strip’s desalination plants restarted operations after Israel restored its electricity supply.