Overview
- President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran “no longer has a choice” and must move the capital, calling Tehran’s situation a catastrophe.
- Water rationing has begun with nightly pressure cuts, and officials report reservoirs at historic lows, including a warning that Karaj Dam has roughly two weeks of drinking water left.
- Pezeshkian warned that formal rationing would expand and said evacuation of Tehran could follow if late‑November rains do not arrive.
- Officials are weighing the underdeveloped Makran coast for a new capital, a relocation that experts say could cost tens of billions of dollars and potentially more than $100 billion.
- Scientific reporting cites land subsidence in parts of Tehran of about 30–35 centimeters per year and severe aquifer losses, with analysts blaming decades of mismanagement alongside drought.