The government has identified the underdeveloped Makran region in southeastern Iran as a possible new capital. No timeline for the move has been announced.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that relocating Iran’s capital from Tehran has become unavoidable, citing overcrowding and limited water resources, Iran International reported on Thursday. Speaking at a meeting in Qazvin, Pezeshkian said Tehran can no longer support further construction or population growth. He noted that transferring water from the Persian Gulf would be extremely costly and added that although Iran lacked the funds when the relocation plan was first proposed, the move is now considered essential.
The government has identified the underdeveloped Makran region in southeastern Iran as a possible new capital. No timeline for the move has been announced. As of last week, Tehran’s Amir Kabir Dam sat at just 8% capacity, and the capital’s reservoirs are half-empty. Water-pressure reductions have begun across the city, with officials quietly warning that the taps may soon run dry altogether.
The government blames climate change and sanctions for Iran’s water crisis. But the truth, as Iranian water experts repeatedly emphasize, lies in decades of human error: overbuilding dams, draining aquifers, and politicizing 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 assessments. The result is a network of failing reservoirs, collapsing groundwater tables, and a 25 percent loss of urban water through decaying pipelines. (Source)
