Iranian President: Moving the Capital from Tehran is Now a "Necessity" Due to Water Crisis

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian affirmed today, Thursday, that moving the capital from Tehran to another city has become an "obligatory necessity," given the environmental and urban crises facing the country's largest city.

Reasons and Challenges

• Unsustainable Expansion: Pezeshkian stated that Tehran "is no longer able to endure further expansion," and that limited budgets have delayed this decision for many years.

• Water Crisis Out of Control: The Iranian President warned that the capital's water crisis has become "out of control" due due to an unprecedented drought, indicating that some areas of Tehran might face the risk of evacuation if rain does not fall soon.

• Exorbitant Economic Cost: Pezeshkian revealed that the project to transfer water from the Gulf to the capital costs nearly $10 per cubic meter (equivalent to 500,000 Tomans), questioning the economic logic of such spending.

• Call for Public Participation: The Iranian President called for a radical redraw of Iran's development map, stressing that solutions to the economic and service crises will not be achieved "without the presence and trust of the people."