Iran president says capital move needed due to overcrowding, water crisis

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that the country's capital should be relocated away from Tehran because of overcrowding and a deepening water crisis. Pezeshkian has raised the idea of moving away from Tehran before, with rainfall in the capital this year at its lowest level for a century.

The Iranian president warned earlier this month the current capital could be evacuated without rainfall before winter, though he did not elaborate. Last week, Iranian authorities announced the launch of cloud seeding operations to induce rainfall. Pezeshkian has since last year identified traffic congestion, water shortages, resource mismanagement and severe air pollution as the key reasons to relocate the capital.