As the water crisis deepens and Iran’s regime fails to manage resources, parts of Tehran—especially District 18—have entered a phase of “rapid subsidence.” More than 80% of Iran’s wetlands have also been lost. Experts warn that this trend could expose the entire Iranian plateau to environmental and economic instability.
The state-run ISNA news agency wrote on Friday, November 28, that during a panel discussion on the water crisis it was emphasized that Iran is experiencing one of the most complex periods in its water history—characterized by wetland destruction, unprecedented drops in air humidity, reduced cloud cover, and intensified land subsidence—painting a troubling picture of the country’s climatic future.
Tehran, Mashhad, And Kerman in Emergency Status as Iran’s Water Crisis Deepens
Wetlands that were once the “breathing arteries” of the Iranian plateau have now in many regions turned into salt flats or cracked basins, and their destruction has been described as a “civilizational threat.”
This crisis is unfolding while some officials of Iran’s regime, instead of reforming water management policies, link it to religious issues and compulsory hijab.
On November 27, as the water crisis intensified, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran’s regime, referred to the water and energy crisis and asked the public to speak to God for rain and “pray earnestly.”
On November 9, Mohsen Araki, a member of the Assembly of Experts, claimed that failure to observe the regime’s compulsory hijab in the streets is the cause of the water crisis, drought, and decreased rainfall in Iran.
Rapid subsidence
Mehdi Zare, a professor at the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, said that wetland drying and reduced humidity are among the “new risks” the country is inadvertently creating instead of controlling.
U.S. State Dept: Iran’s Water Crisis Is Result of Decades of Regime Mismanagement
Zare said the water crisis “has been a historical issue,” but excessive extraction of groundwater and disregard for regulations have pushed the crisis to the point where “even cities like Tehran now face annual land subsidence—a completely new phenomenon caused by severe pressure on water resources.”
He emphasized: “As long as governance is not orderly, patient, and persistent, no comprehensive plan—no matter how well designed by experts—will be able to control the crisis.”
Regarding the latest subsidence figures for Tehran, he said: “A report by the National Cartographic Center shows that land subsidence in Tehran’s District 18 has exceeded 30 centimeters per year, and this trend has continued in 2025. This is the beginning of a process that will affect various parts of the city by the end of this decade.”
Zare added that Lake Urmia, now dried out, “is a wound on Iran’s body”: “This wound can disable the entire body; meaning the damage to Lake Urmia can affect the entire Iranian plateau.”
Ali Beitollahi, head of engineering seismology and risk at the Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center, said on November 22: “Land subsidence is rapidly expanding across Iran and threatens 40% of the population.”
He added: “In the past two years, the rate of subsidence in southern Tehran has tripled.”
Root of the water crisis
Reza Sepahvand, secretary of the Energy Commission in Iran’s regime parliament, noting decades of accumulated problems in water governance, said: “We do not lack laws in the field of water governance; the question is why they are not implemented and in some cases violated. The cause is the absence of a governmental belief in the importance of water.”
Sepahvand warned: “As long as pricing, laws, education, consumption culture, and decision-making structures are not aligned, public attitudes will not change.”
He added that current desalination practices are not cost-effective and said: “We must follow the model of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where in addition to water, valuable by-products such as magnesium are produced, generating high added value. Only in that case will desalination technology become economically viable.”
Ahad Vazifeh, head of the National Center for Climate and Drought Crisis Management, also warned on November 28 about water transfer projects, saying “Water transfer only transfers the crisis; both the source and the destination are harmed,” adding that “sustainable solutions lie in consumption management and climate adaptation, not in moving water around.”
Meanwhile, as some citizens have faced days-long water outages, reports from the city of Baneh indicate that security agencies have summoned and threatened journalists, banning them from reporting on the water crisis.
The Hengaw news site, quoting an informed source, wrote that security agents have accused media activists of “disturbing public opinion” and threatened them with judicial and security action if they continue reporting on the water crisis.
Eighty percent of wetlands have been lost
Hooman Liaghati, a faculty member at Beheshti University, noting that “per capita annual water consumption is between 1,100 and 1,200 cubic meters,” said: “These figures show we are in the crisis zone; the crisis threshold is about 1,500 cubic meters, and below 1,000 means catastrophe.”
Regarding water recycling in Tehran, he said: “Existing economic regulations impede investment, and issues related to return on investment and currency conversion hinder the implementation of efficient technologies.”
Liaghati warned: “Lakes and wetlands are part of an ecosystem with specific rules, and their loss has extensive consequences.”
Referring to the drying of wetlands in Urmia and Gavkhouni, he said: “We have now lost 80% of our wetlands. An important question we must seriously consider is: who has control over the country’s water?”
