Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain.
2025-11-223:282825www.iranintl.com
Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has…
Pezeshkian said the pressure on water, land and infrastructure had left the government with “no option” but to act. “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,” he said in a speech in Qazvin.
He said Tehran now faces “catastrophe” as land in parts of the capital sinks by up to 30 centimeters a year and water supplies shrink. “When we say the land subsides 30 centimeters each day, this means disaster,” he said. He warned that mismanagement, construction in upstream areas and cuts to downstream water flows risk irreversible damage.
Pezeshkian said officials across government must work together or “a dark future” awaits. “Protecting the environment is not a joke,” he said. “Ignoring it means signing our own destruction.”
The president said the mismatch between water resources and demand had reached a breaking point. “We can bring water from the Persian Gulf, but it will be costly,” he said, arguing that Tehran’s population and construction load can no longer expand.
Makran: potential and limits
Iran announced in January that the government was studying plans to move the capital to the southern Makran coast, a remote region overlooking the Gulf of Oman. Officials said the shift could ease Tehran’s overcrowding, energy shortages and water stress.
The idea has surfaced repeatedly since the 1979 revolution but has stalled due to political resistance and soaring costs. Past administrations explored alternatives including Semnan, Qom and Isfahan but financial constraints halted progress.
Officials have said Makran’s coastline offers access to the Indian Ocean and a base for sea-linked economic projects. The area includes Chabahar, Iran’s only oceanic port and a gateway to Central Asia.
But critics say the region is underdeveloped, exposed to security risks and far from ready to host a national capital. Opponents argue the country cannot afford the tens of billions of dollars such a move would require at a time of economic strain, high inflation and renewed UN sanctions.
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Comments
> country "no longer has a choice"
I bet it had a couple of choices before this point. The government made all those choices as they came. Now it's being made for them.
I feel sorry for the people of Tehran.
I wonder how soon every other place is due. Sooner or later the same choice will be made for all of us.
By kronicum2025 2025-11-2211:111 reply tbh US made a choice for them long ago.
By Sabinus 2025-11-2221:26 How long will US support for a previous government be responsible for conditions in the country?
By conartist6 2025-11-228:592 reply Wow. The future of living in a barren rock is getting here fast fast fast
Just so we're clear: fresh water is shifting location ... when it comes to the total available, it's increasing. There are many more locations were humans can now live where they couldn't a century ago, not less.
The issue is not that we can't live anywhere. The earth is greener than before. The issue is that there are a small number of locations where humans can't live anymore, especially not without good water management. Obviously, people don't want to or can't leave, and some of the locations that didn't use to, but now really do require proper management have a LOT of people.
Teheran has more water than a century ago. But more does not mean infinite.
By pabs3 2025-11-2222:52 The water cycle is also becoming more unstable and unpredictable.
By conartist6 2025-11-2215:502 reply Source on this info?
By spwa4 2025-11-2216:53 The entire working mechanism of climate change is increased water in the atmosphere. That's why it's getting warmer. CO2 and other gases only accelerate that process a little bit (but as we're at the end of the warming cycle, "a little bit" should be interpreted as accelerating warming by a little bit, if you count the number of years it brings warming forward, that's a lot. Probably a millennium, maybe more). Obviously it also makes things warmer and generally wetter, thereby making very large areas livable that weren't livable before.
The entire inside of India used to be desert. That desert did not just reduce in size, it split in three pieces and two of them shrunk to zero, and even the third is turning green. The Sahara too is less than half the size it used to be.
https://theweek.com/environment/sahara-desert-turning-green
Also, large regions closer to the poles are becoming warmer ... and that means livable.
And yes, elsewhere deserts are becoming worse, for instance in Spain.
It doesn't really matter though, as humans are not exactly short on space, and this means we'll need to move large populations in the next century.
By more_corn 2025-11-253:26 The news? You could search for things like “scientists show how climate change is leading to an increase in extreme weather”
On YouTube or Netflix, look up the Fresh Water episode of the Our Planet documentary series by David Attenborough, fresh water is disappearing all over the place due to our actions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Planet https://www.ourplanet.com/ https://www.ourplanet.com/en/explore/fresh-water/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2DU85qLfJQ
By lysace 2025-11-2421:58 You didn't even bother to do the most basic amount of research on the specific situation before posting those links, did you?
I don't understand how you think what is entially spam will bolster your cause.
It's just plain rude. But somehow it's common, even with normally intelligent people like you. Do think a few extra steps, next time, please.
By renewiltord 2025-11-229:32 Fully expect the grey men to say the same of us when they look at a cooked Earth: yes, to be clear, it was mismanagement
By mingus88 2025-11-2210:32 Have you seen the general state of … well, everything?
By stpedgwdgfhgdd 2025-11-229:082 reply And why?
Climate change (no rain) but especially bad water mgt.
Nuclear program, ballistic missile program, drones, establishing and supporting multiple proxies in the region.
For a fraction of what they spent on that they could’ve have desalination plants in the Caspian Sea and a water way capable of providing water to their capital.
By kotaKat 2025-11-2210:30 Yeah, there's something about allocating all of your water to those pesky Shahed drone factories for Russia instead of your civilian needs.
