Hydropower generation at the Amir Kabir Dam in Karaj, west of Tehran, has stopped after storage fell to 25 million cubic meters, while lawmakers warned that several provinces could soon face acute drinking water shortages.
The Amir Kabir Dam, inaugurated in 1960 as Iran’s first multipurpose dam, is now at its lowest level in more than six decades of operation. Once vital to supplying Tehran province, it currently holds only about 14 percent of its 205 million cubic meter capacity, according to the Iran Water Resources Management Company.
“At present, nearly 86 percent of the reservoir is empty,” the agency said in its latest assessment, citing low inflows from upstream rivers and continued extractions for urban, agricultural, and environmental needs.
A year ago, the dam contained around 111 million cubic meters of water, with the long-term seasonal average closer to 120 million cubic meters. The year-on-year comparison reflects a 76 percent decline in stored volume.
Hydropower operations were suspended earlier this autumn when levels fell below 28 million cubic meters, disabling the facility’s turbines. Officials said the dam has not yet reached its “dead storage” level of 10 million cubic meters, below which the water becomes unusable.
Tehran’s main reservoirs are nearing depletion. Government figures show that 19 major dams nationwide are operating at below 20 percent capacity.
Growing alarm over nationwide shortages
In central Iran, Isfahan officials warned that the city’s water crisis has grown beyond provincial boundaries and could soon affect several regions.
Mohammad-Taghi Naghdali, head of Isfahan’s parliamentary delegation, said the situation required “a national commitment and cross-provincial coordination.” A task force known as the “water command” has been established to pursue solutions, he added.
“We have exhausted all legal and parliamentary means to stop unauthorized withdrawals,” Naghdali said. “If action is delayed, the entire country will face a grave catastrophe.”
Experts have cautioned that decades of overconsumption, mismanagement, and uneven rainfall have left Iran’s reservoirs critically depleted, threatening both electricity production and drinking water supplies nationwide.
The incident had not previously been reported.
Hooman Kiani, a student at Isfahan University of Applied Science and Technology, was returning home with a friend when their car came under fire from Basij forces, a volunteer militia under Iran’s Revolutionary Guards according to the Amir Kabir Newsletter.
“Around 11 PM, their car was stopped at a checkpoint in the Mardavij neighborhood,” the newsletter quoted a family member as saying.
“The driver stopped a little late, and the officers opened fire without any warning. Two bullets struck Hooman in the lungs and liver, and his friend was hit in the leg.”
The report said Kiani was taken to Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan, where doctors performed surgery, but he did not survive his injuries.
"Emergency staff began resuscitation efforts and Hooman underwent surgery, but due to extensive bleeding and severe liver damage, he went into cardiac arrest and lost his life" the family member said.
Amir Kabir Newsletter also published a copy of Kiani’s official burial permit issued by Isfahan’s Legal Medicine Organization, which listed the cause of death as “hemorrhagic shock,” “injury to the liver and lungs” and a “gunshot wound,” with the date of death recorded as June 15, 2025.
The newsletter added the family has demanded an explanation from authorities over why Basij forces “fired directly at the car” and called for those responsible to be held accountable.
In a similar incident during the 12 day war, guards at a military base in the central Iranian city of Khomein mistakenly opened fire on two civilian vehicles, killing four people on July 17. State media said the shooters were arrested and a judicial investigation was launched.
In another earlier incident, on July 2, two young men were shot dead by the Islamic Republic's security forces outside Hamedan in western Iran.
Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported that personnel opened fire on their vehicle near the Tareek-Darreh area after suspecting it of drone-related activity.
