Iran’s President Calls for Moving Capital Amid Water and Land Crisis

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has renewed calls to relocate the country’s capital from Tehran to the south, citing severe water shortages, land subsidence, and the capital’s rapid over-expansion.

Speaking during a visit to Hormozgan province on the Persian Gulf, Pezeshkian said Iran had «no choice» but to shift its political center closer to the coast, where he argued trade and development prospects were far greater.

«Tehran, Karaj and Qazvin are facing a water crisis that cannot be easily solved,» he warned, noting that the capital of more than 10 million consumes nearly a quarter of the country’s water supplies.

Rainfall in Iran has fallen by up to 60% in recent years, and in 2025 levels dropped below 100mm, he said. Tehran’s reservoirs, once supplying 70% of its water, have been depleted, forcing over-reliance on underground sources. Land subsidence of up to 30cm a year has been recorded in some areas.

Previous leaders, including Hassan Rouhani, have floated plans to move the capital, but none have been implemented. Pezeshkian stressed that the worsening environmental crisis now left the government with «an obligation» to act.