Iran\u2019s president has claimed\u00a0Iran\u00a0has no choice but to move its capital from Tehran to the south of the country due to the city\u2019s over-expansion, the lack of adequate water supplies and the growing threat of subsidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that he had raised the proposal with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last year. He admitted it had received a lot of criticism, but argued that the accumulating resource crises were so deep that Iran now had an obligation to shift the capital, and no choice but to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He made his remarks on a visit to Hormozgan province, which sits on the Persian Gulf opposite Dubai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis region is located on the shores of the Persian Gulf and provides direct access to open waters and the development of trade and economic relations. If we have a different view of the capacities of this region, we can create a very prosperous and advanced region. It is not good enough to accept the current situation and not design a scientific, accurate and indigenous map for the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problems the country is currently facing require us to direct the development path towards the Persian Gulf. Tehran, Karaj, and Qazvin are currently facing a water crisis, and this crisis cannot be easily solved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tehran has grown to a city of more than 10 million people, and consumes nearly a quarter of Iran\u2019s water supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previous presidents have raised the issue of moving the capital, including Hassan Rouhani, who even went so far as to draw up a plan with options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pezeshkian has long sounded the alarm about\u00a0Iran\u2019s worsening water crisis. On Thursday he said: \u201cLast year, the rainfall was 140mm, while the standard is 260mm; that means rainfall has fallen by about 50 to 60%. This year, the situation is just as critical.\u201d Some recent estimates put the rainfall in 2025 at just below 100mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added: \u201cThe reduction in water behind the dams, the drying up of some wells, and the high costs of transporting water from other areas all indicate the need for a change in approach. If we want to transport water from this area to Tehran, the cost per cubic meter will be up to \u20ac4\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tehran\u2019s dams normally provided 70% of the capital\u2019s water, with the remaining 30% provided by underground resources. However, low rainfall and increased evaporation have reduced the dams\u2019 share and increased pressure on groundwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president said: \u201cDevelopment without considering the impact on resources and expenditures will result in nothing but destruction. If someone cannot establish this balance, their development is doomed to failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn some areas, the land is subsiding by up to 30cm per year. This is a disaster and shows that the water beneath our feet is running out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Masoud Pezeshkian says subsidence is also \u2018a disaster\u2019 in city of 10 million, which consumes quarter of Iran\u2019s water Iran\u2019s president has claimed\u00a0Iran\u00a0has no choice but to move its capital<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,33],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-8595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-iran-domestic","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8597,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8595\/revisions\/8597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranreport.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}