Pezeshkian: The capital must be moved out of Tehran

(Patria) - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian believes that moving Iran's capital out of Tehran has become inevitable, citing overpopulation and limited water resources.

Speaking at a meeting in Qazvin this week, Pezeshkian said that Tehran cannot sustain further construction or population growth.

He noted that transferring water from the Persian Gulf would be extremely expensive, explaining that although Iran did not have sufficient funds when the capital relocation plan was first proposed, the move is now considered necessary.

The government has identified the underdeveloped Makran region in southeastern Iran as the location for the future capital. No timeline for the relocation has been announced.

The director of the Tehran Regional Water Company, Behzad Parsa, announced last week that water levels have dropped by 43 percent compared to last year. The Amir Kabir Dam has only 14 million cubic meters of water left, which is eight percent of its capacity.

Water pressure reduction has begun throughout the city, and officials are quietly warning that taps could run completely dry soon.

The government blames climate change and sanctions for Iran's water crisis. But the truth, as Iranian water experts emphasize, lies in decades of human errors: excessive dam construction, depletion of aquifers, and politicization of resource management.

Between 2012 and 2018, Iran more than doubled the number of its dams, from 316 to 647, many of which were built without environmental impact assessments.

The result is a network of decaying reservoirs, collapsing groundwater, and the loss of 25 percent of the city's water due to deteriorating pipelines.