Iran Launches Cloud-Seeding Campaign as Nation Endures Worst Drought in 50 Years

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

(Worthy News) – Iranian authorities have begun large-scale cloud-seeding operations in a desperate bid to generate rainfall as the country confronts its most severe drought in decades, state media reported over the weekend.

The first cloud-seeding flight of the current water year — which began in September — was carried out Saturday over the Urmia Lake basin in northwestern Iran, according to the official IRNA news agency. Lake Urmia, once the Middle East’s largest saltwater lake, has shrunk into a vast salt flat after years of declining rainfall, mismanagement, and record heat.

Officials said additional cloud-seeding missions will take place across East and West Azerbaijan provinces, where rainfall has collapsed to historic lows. Iran’s meteorological agency said precipitation nationwide is down roughly 89 percent compared to long-term averages, noting that the country is experiencing “the driest autumn in 50 years.”

Some scattered rainfall was reported Saturday in Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Lorestan, and West Azerbaijan. Footage on state media also showed the season’s first snowfall on the Tochal mountain near Tehran.

Still, the situation remains dire. Rainfall in the capital is the lowest in a century, reservoirs are nearing empty, and about half of Iran’s provinces have gone months without a single drop of rain. Officials warn that water levels in key dams in Tehran and several northern provinces have dropped into the single digits.

Earlier this month, President Masoud Pezeshkian issued an extraordinary warning that Tehran could face evacuation if sufficient rainfall does not arrive before winter — a statement that underscored the severity of the crisis, though he did not provide details.

Iran has increasingly turned to cloud-seeding — a process that disperses silver iodide or other chemical salts into clouds to accelerate condensation — to try to alleviate chronic water shortages. Other regional states, including the United Arab Emirates, have also relied on the method as climate-driven aridity intensifies.

Authorities have announced that households and businesses with excessive water usage may face penalties as the government attempts to manage dwindling resources. Hundreds of worshippers in Tehran gathered Friday for communal prayers for rain, reflecting a growing sense of public alarm.

Iran, much of which is naturally arid, has suffered worsening drought cycles and extreme heat waves for years. The country’s vast reservoirs, aquifers, and lakes are reaching critically low levels, heightening fears of a looming humanitarian, agricultural, and economic crisis.

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