--- title: "President of Iran Says It’s Forced to Move Its Entire Capital City" description: "Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian says the country has no choice but to move the nation's capital amidst an unprecedented water crisis." date: "2025-11-23" modified: "2025-11-23" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/science-energy/iran-moving-tehran-water-crisis" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Global Warming" - "Science & Energy" --- # President of Iran Says It’s Forced to Move Its Entire Capital City ![Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian says the country has no choice but to move the nation's capital amidst an unprecedented water crisis.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: John Lamparski / Getty Images* 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. **More on Iran:** *[As War Descends on Iran, People Have Discovered Some Wild Old Posts on Ayatollah Khamenei’s Twitter Account]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()