Iran Faces Historic Water Crisis as Officials Warn of Possible Tehran Evacuation

Key Facts

Published: November 9, 2025 Location: Tehran Source: Radio Free Europe, Wire Services

• Iran faces its worst drought in a century, prompting water cuts and rationing in Tehran.
• President Pezeshkian warns the capital could face evacuation if rains fail.
• Main reservoirs hold less than two weeks’ water supply for the city’s 10 million residents.
• Experts blame decades of mismanagement and inefficient agriculture for deepening the crisis.

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Worthy News Jerusalem Bureau Staff

(Worthy News) – Iranian officials are warning of imminent water rationing—and even the potential evacuation of Tehran—as the nation faces its worst drought in nearly a century.

Rainfall across much of Iran has plunged to record lows, and officials say the capital’s main reservoirs are nearly depleted. President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a stark warning this week that Tehran’s 10-million residents may have to be relocated if rains fail to arrive by year’s end.

“If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran,” Pezeshkian said in a televised address.

Energy Minister Abbas Ali Abadi confirmed Saturday that planned water cuts will soon begin, acknowledging that some neighborhoods are already seeing overnight interruptions. “This will help avoid waste even though it may cause inconvenience,” he said on state television.

Reservoirs Nearly Empty

Tehran consumes roughly three million cubic meters of water each day, but the main Amir Kabir dam on the Karaj River—one of the capital’s five reservoirs—now holds only 14 million cubic meters, down sharply from 86 million a year ago. Officials say the supply may last less than two weeks without rain.

State television aired drone footage showing drastically reduced water levels at dams near Isfahan, Tabriz, and Mashhad. “We are forced to impose restrictions on the amount of consumption,” said Issa Bozorgzadeh, a spokesman for Iran’s water industry. “If consumption is not reduced by 10 percent, disruption to Tehran’s sustainable water supply is certain.”

Systemic Failures

Experts say mismanagement has deepened the crisis. Iran’s dependence on hydropower and fossil fuels, along with decades of underinvestment in renewable energy, has left the grid vulnerable as water levels fall.

Critics also fault industrial policies that placed water-intensive factories in the desert interior rather than along the coast, where desalination could offset shortages. Lawmaker Reza Sepahvand called such decisions “wrong policies” that diverted rivers from populated areas to serve heavy industry.

Agriculture remains the country’s biggest drain, consuming about 80 percent of all freshwater—often for water-thirsty crops irrigated inefficiently in arid regions. “We must modernize,” Agriculture Ministry official Gholamreza Gol Mohammadi warned earlier this year, saying outdated irrigation methods are “draining aquifers and crippling power generation.”

Ecological Toll Mounts

The drought has triggered widespread dust storms, dried wetlands, and accelerated the collapse of Lake Urmia—once the Middle East’s largest saltwater lake—into vast salt plains that now threaten nearby cities.

For many Iranians, the crisis is no longer theoretical. Power outages have become routine, summer holidays were declared to conserve energy, and taps in some neighborhoods already run dry by nightfall.

With water levels still dropping and no rain in sight, Tehran’s future—and that of millions across Iran’s parched heartland—hangs in the balance.

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