Environmental Researcher
Iran is facing one of its most severe droughts in 60 years, with more than half its plains suffering drastic groundwater depletion and the term “water bankruptcy” becoming more palpable by the day.
But the crisis is rooted less in the sky than in decades of flawed policy: rushed dam-building, inefficient farming and poor governance.
The defining problem is management: lack of coordination among key ministries and short-term crisis fixes that ignore long-term realities.
One striking example came in July 2025, when schools and offices in Tehran and several provinces were temporarily shut down to reduce electricity and water consumption.
The move briefly eased pressure on the grid but underscored the absence of durable policy. No plan yet in sight promises anything near a comprehensive solution.
Daunting figures
A new energy ministry report shows dam inflows this year at just 1.35 billion cubic meters, an extraordinary drop from long-term averages. Total storage in Iran’s 193 major reservoirs has fallen to 34% of capacity, down 25% from last year.
Tehran’s situation is even more alarming.
The capital’s four main dammed reservoirs (Lar, Taleqan, Karaj and Amir Kabir) hold barely 12% of capacity, with Lar at just 2%. Inflow into the capital’s system has plunged 43% year-on-year.
If nothing changes, next summer could bring rationing and widespread drops in water pressure for millions in Tehran and other major cities.
Agriculture: the main drain
The core of Iran’s water crisis lies in agriculture, which consumes over 80% of renewable water resources, often with less than 40% efficiency. Much of the water used in irrigation is simply lost through evaporation, leakage, or outdated techniques.
Households, by contrast, account for just 6-10% of total use, yet are routinely targeted by conservation campaigns. The real problem is structural: water-intensive crops, unrealistic self-sufficiency policies and misallocated resources.
In many plains, groundwater extraction is two to three times higher than natural recharge rates, leading to dried wells, collapsing traditional aqueducts called qanats and land subsidence—up to 30 centimeters a year in some regions.
A test of survival
Climate change has intensified the crisis. Iran’s average temperature has risen 1.8°C over the past decade, triggering the evaporation of billions of cubic meters of water from dams, lakes, and soil.
Evaporation in many regions now exceeds total annual rainfall. Steady rains that once fed aquifers have been replaced by sudden flash downpours that run off quickly instead of replenishing the ground.
Iran can escape its water spiral only through structural reform: overhauling crop patterns and boosting agricultural efficiency, repairing leaky water networks and establishing transparent, data-driven water governance.
But the country's water crisis is ultimately a test of governance and social resilience. Without deep reform, the coming year could turn “thirst” from metaphor into political reality.
Water bankruptcy is not just empty reservoirs. It signals a failing contract between nature, the state and society which badly needs to be renegotiated.
About 52 million barrels of Iranian oil were sitting in floating storage, the most since May 2023, with roughly half of the volumes parked off Malaysia, data from shipping-intelligence firm Kpler showed.
The offshore build has nearly doubled from a month earlier, the data indicated, and has risen sharply from early-2025 levels as cargoes wait for buyers.
Traders said the backlog has widened discounts on Iranian grades such as Iran Light, in some cases to as much as $8 a barrel below ICE Brent, compared with around $4 in late summer.
Reuters reported this week that that China’s official crude imports from Indonesia have surged to levels far above what Indonesia actually exports, prompting traders and analysts to say the barrels are likely sanctioned Iranian oil being rebranded after ship-to-ship transfers near Malaysia.
They said Iran’s suppliers have long masked origins by labeling cargoes as Malaysian, but tougher scrutiny of Malaysian oil by banks and Malaysia’s clampdown on at-sea transfers have pushed dealers to use Indonesia as a new paper origin.
On Monday, Indonesia announced it will auction the seized Iranian tanker MT Arman 114 and its 1.245 million barrels of crude oil starting December 2.
Even with the relabeling shift, analysts cited by Reuters said most Iranian crude bound for China is still transferred between tankers off Malaysia, and Kpler estimates China has taken about 1.37 million barrels per day of Iranian or suspected Iranian crude this year, mainly via such transfers.
The accumulation comes as the global oil market is well supplied, with OPEC+ easing production curbs and non-OPEC producers adding output, pressuring prices this year.
Despite US sanctions, Iranian exports are still running at their fastest pace in years, leaving more barrels vulnerable to congestion when demand slows.
China remains the dominant buyer of Iranian crude, largely through independent “teapot” refineries that import discounted barrels.
Traders said many teapots have nearly exhausted the import quotas they need to bring in overseas crude, cooling their appetite for new Iranian shipments.
Recent USsanctions on Chinese firms and terminals accused of handling Iranian oil, including the Rizhao Shihua crude terminal, have further complicated offloading, forcing some tankers to divert to alternative ports.
In comments sent to Iran International, residents described daily life under heavy haze in blunt, personal terms.
A resident of Urmia in northwest Iran said schools in Urmia and nearby Salmas were closed for two days because of dirty air. “They made us homebound and depressed,” the person wrote.
An Iran–Iraq war veteran with pulmonary injuries from Karaj said he had no choice but to keep working despite the smog. “Pollution is poison for me,” he wrote, “but if you miss one day of work, you fall behind for ten days.”
In Tehran, another resident said the air felt unbreathable. “They’ve turned Tehran into a gas chamber. You can’t catch your breath.”
Several other people echoed the same theme. “Breathing has become difficult,” one wrote, while another said, “There is a gray fog every morning. It feels like something is weighing on my chest.”
Parents and people with existing illnesses said they were hit hardest. One mother wrote: “My 17-year-old daughter has shortness of breath because of the pollution, and the doctor prescribed a spray.”
A marketing worker who said they have a lung condition wrote: “I have a lung problem and I can’t even speak up. Talking leaves me breathless.”
Another person reported persistent symptoms. “Long headaches and breathing trouble,” the message said, while another wrote: “My eyes burn so badly I can’t keep them open.”
People blame industrial pollutants
Many users blamed a mix of vehicle emissions, industrial smoke and heavy fuel burning.
One message cited “non-standard gasoline, high-consumption cars, and mazut and diesel used for power plants and factories,” saying they produce “thousands of tons of toxic pollutants every day.”
A resident of Zanjan province, a smaller industrial area, alleged that nearby metal workshops release smoke at night. “The smoke looks like thick mist,” the person wrote, warning that the health damage “will show itself later.”
Another contributor said the problem had spread beyond big cities: “Pollution has reached a stage where even small towns and villages are not spared.”
Psychological toll
Alongside physical complaints, the comments conveyed mounting psychological strain.
“People’s moods are tense and abnormal, and it is affecting work and daily life,” one person wrote.
Another said, “We’re terrified of getting sick and not being able to afford treatment.”
Several linked the crisis to rising medical costs with one Tehran resident saying the pollution had triggered asthma-like allergies and that a prescription now costs millions of rials.
While some submissions used strongly political language, the core grievance was consistent: residents said they feel unprotected against a recurring hazard that closures and short-term restrictions have not solved.