IRAN is facing one of the worst droughts in its history, with officials warning that Tehran may have to be evacuated if rain does not fall soon.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said the capital’s reservoirs hold only nine days of drinking water, calling the situation a “serious and unimaginable crisis.”
He warned parliament on Tuesday: “If you really think you have the ability to fix it, I’ll hand over all the authority – come and fix it.”
The crisis extends far beyond Tehran. In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, reservoirs are down to less than three per cent of capacity.
The energy ministry said 19 of the country’s major dams are close to running dry.
The crisis is another blow for the Ayatollah after Israel and then the US both humiliated the Islamic Republic in a bombing campaign earlier this year.
Archaeologists have also warned that the aquifer beneath Persepolis, the ancient capital of Darius the Great, has been so severely drained that parts of the site could collapse.
Kaveh Madani, a former deputy head of Iran’s environment department, said the situation is “beyond” a crisis.
“Both the checking account of rain-filled mountain reservoirs, and the savings account of groundwater, are exhausted,” he said.
Tehran is now in its sixth consecutive year of drought, with rainfall down 40 per cent compared to last year.
Officials say rapid urban growth, poor planning, and overuse of groundwater have worsened the disaster.
Pezeshkian has said the capital’s institutions may need to move south, and parts of the city could have to be evacuated.
Rationing has already begun. Some universities have shut off dormitory showers, and residents in poorer districts say water pressure has dropped to a trickle.
“Some nights the pressure is too low and water just drips from the taps,” said Siamak, a resident of south Tehran.
“We are worried about it and don’t have any idea what to do if Tehran runs out of water.”
Wealthier areas in the north report little disruption so far, but water companies warn that even those districts could soon face cuts.
Mohsen Ardakani, head of Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Company, told state TV that the capital’s dams are at “historic minimum” levels.
The crisis is exposing years of mismanagement. Scientists have long warned that Iran’s aquifers were running dry.
Since 2007, the Zayandeh Rud river in Isfahan has become seasonal, and wetlands in the southeast have disappeared.
Experts also say successive governments ignored the danger.
Madani, who once warned that Iran was “water bankrupt,” was accused of espionage and forced into exile after urging reform.
He said the crisis is also very much rooted in politics.
Under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “resistance economy,” which prioritises self-sufficiency under sanctions, large-scale agricultural reform has been politically impossible.
“The government, instead of providing structural solutions, has effectively shifted crisis management onto the shoulders of the people,” the Tehran daily Jahan-e-Sanat wrote this week.
“Today, the result of those policies is before us: a city that must pray for rain to continue living.”
For now, Tehran is waiting for the weather to decide its fate.
“There’s no water left behind dams, and our wells are running dry,” Pezeshkian told lawmakers.
“It’s everyone’s well and the rain that God sends we should use properly – that is it.”
Madani says nature may yet prove the regime’s toughest opponent.
“What nature is doing to Iran right now is something that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu could not have wished for,” he said.
“What is happening is much worse than those bombs that were dropped on Iran.”
