If you’re looking for a temperature check on the state of the planet’s ecological decline, this is it.
On Thursday, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian went on the record to announce that the country “no longer has a choice,” and must move its capital city to another location. Home to nine million people, and with over 15 million in the surrounding metro area, the current capital of Tehran is the third most populated city in the Middle East, and the twenty-third largest in the world.
For decades, Tehran has faced an oncoming water shortage, brought on by environmental changes, industrial agriculture, and unsustainable population growth. Today, it seems the crisis is here to stay, as millions face dry taps among the region’s sixth consecutive year of drought — now its hottest summer in 60 years.
“When we said we must move the capital, we did not even have enough budget. If we had, maybe it would have been done. The reality is that we no longer have a choice; it is an obligation,” Pezeshkian said, referencing a warning he issued earlier in November. “Protecting the environment is not a joke. Ignoring it means signing our own destruction.”
Tehran has been the seat of Persian territory since 1786, favored for its geographical location and access to important trade routes. While a number of countries have moved their administrative capitals for various reasons in recent decades, a forced transfer to a totally different city to avert a water crisis is unprecedented in modern history.
In situations like this, the city doesn’t suffer proportionally. As the Global Water Forum noted in a 2022 report, the low-income urban poor are bearing the brunt of the current water crisis. Though authorities have urged Iranians to cut their water usage by 20 percent, household water consumption only accounts for eight percent of the nation’s total water use, Al Jazeera has reported.
If Iranian authorities do move the nation’s capital, it will likely be a years-long endeavor — with any relief from lower water consumption coming far too late.
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