Despite advances in understanding the relationship between land use/land cover change and land surface temperature , this relationship still requires further regional-scale studies in arid and semi-arid regions. The present study aims to analyze the relationship between LULC changes and LST in the counties of Baft, Sirjan, and Bardsir in Kerman Province, Iran, over the period 2000 to 2025. LST was retrieved from Landsat imagery using the single-channel algorithm, and thermal zones were classified into five classes using the Natural Breaks method. Additionally, CHIRPS precipitation data were employed via the Google Earth Engine platform to analyze summer rainfall variability. The results showed that the area of built-up lands increased from 21,187 ha in 2000 to 25,300 ha in 2025, while bare lands and rangelands experienced decreasing trends. Zone 5 (the hottest thermal class) was the dominant thermal zone in all three years, and the maximum LST showed a significant upward trend, rising from approximately 60°C in 2000 to 66°C in 2025. Bare lands consistently recorded the highest mean LST across all three years, and built-up areas exhibited higher temperatures than natural land covers such as rangelands and orchards. The analysis of LULC distribution across thermal zones indicated that bare lands contributed the most to Zone 5, whereas orchards and agricultural lands were mainly concentrated in Zones 2 to 4. Summer precipitation exhibited a mild but highly fluctuating trend; however, extreme rainfall events did not halt the increasing trend of LST. These findings suggest that in the prevailing climate of the region, surface physical properties and land cover type outweigh seasonal soil moisture, and even increased summer rainfall cannot compensate for the warming effects induced by land conversion.