Iran sees steep bread price hikes as inflation bites

Residents in various districts describe inconsistent access, with high-rise buildings experiencing more severe cuts.

Authorities have advised installing pumps and storage tanks, but many complain water pressure is too low to make them effective. Power cuts also complicate the situation.

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Field observations by Shargh newspaper show that Karaj Dam, normally holding up to 180 million cubic meters, now stores only around 60 million — one-third of its capacity. Of that, only a fraction is usable, as sediment and “dead water” account for an estimated 15% of the volume. Dam managers confirm a 45-meter drop in reservoir height from full capacity.

Mohammad Ali Moallem, the director of Karaj Dam, told Shargh that the reservoir has dropped to its lowest level in 64 years.

Authorities attribute the crisis to reduced rainfall, with Tehran province receiving just 185 mm this year — placing it among the top five water-stressed regions in the country.

Officials in Tehran blame drought and public overuse for Iran’s worst water shortage in living memory.

National figures show just 9.5% of Iran’s water goes to households and commerce, while agriculture consumes 86.5%, often with inefficient practices and low economic returns. Internal migration and aging infrastructure have further strained Tehran’s water system, making it the second most water-poor province after Sistan-Baluchistan.

In the capital Tehran, officials have attempted to curb consumption through emergency measures, including repeated water and electricity outages and temporary office closures on certain days.

An Iranian government plan to close workplaces and schools one day a week in response to worsening electricity and water shortages has sparked widespread criticism, with many citizens warning it will only deepen daily hardships.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has built over 60 dams in recent decades. More than half are now empty, with hydropower generation operating at just one-third of its nominal capacity.

The United States on Tuesday criticized Iran’s leadership over the ongoing nationwide crisis.

One of the two detainees, identified by HRANA as 70-year-old Yehuda Hekmati, remains in detention.

Hekmati, a jeweler with ties to New York, allegedly drew the attention of the Islamic Republic due to a trip he made to Israel seven years ago.

The second detainee, an Iranian-American resident of Los Angeles, has been released on bail.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to comment on the case Tuesday, saying only that she hopes she would be able to speak about it soon.

The State Department has repeatedly warned that Americans, including dual nationals, risk wrongful detention in Iran.

The department's website says: "Americans, including Iranian-Americans and other dual nationals, have been wrongfully detained, taken hostage by the Iranian government for months, and years."

Israel’s Channel 11 quoted a source involved in the American detainees’ case as saying, “These two Americans were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Crackdown on minorities and foreign nationals

In the aftermath of the war, Iranian authorities have intensified pressure on religious and ethnic minority groups, as well as foreign nationals, in what experts describe as an attempt to reassert control, deflect blame, and silence dissent.

Iran’s Jewish community has faced unprecedented scrutiny. Dozens have been interrogated over contacts with family in Israel, and Jewish conscripts have reportedly been forced to participate in loyalty demonstrations to the Islamic Republic.

Foreign nationals have not been spared. Several Europeans have been detained on charges of cooperating with Israel. French citizens Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, held in Iran since 2022, now face new espionage charges that could carry the death penalty.

Iran’s judiciary chief recently announced that over 2,000 people have been detained since the war with Israel, some facing charges of “organized collaboration with the enemy”—a charge that can carry the death penalty.

The ministry said it had thwarted assassinations plots against 35 officials, conducted raids and made arrests targeting the Baha'i religious minority, evangelical Christians, foreign-baed dissidents, Sunni Muslim jihadists, separatists, monarchists and media organizations acting in league with Israel.

Hundreds of military personnel, nuclear scientists and civilians were killed in Israel's surprise campaign last month including top commanders, in major intelligence lapses the statement appeared aimed at addressing.

"What happened during the 12-day imposed was a war plan with planning and full-scale utilization of combined military, security, intelligence, cognitive warfare, disruptive actions, assassination, sabotage, destabilization and incitement of internal unrest," the statement issued on Monday said.

The multifarious plots, it added, were "aiming for the delusion of subjugating and forcing Iran to surrender and overthrowing the sacred Islamic Republic,” it added.

Israel was able to launch deadly attack drones at senior military Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leaders from inside the country, killing the armed forces chief of staff, IRGC leader and the elite unit's commanders of aerospace and military operations.

An Iranian analyst alleged in a newspaper interview last week that Israel caused over 100 Iranian missile launchers to explode upon activation during the war last month and that it had hacked the country’s entire air defense system.

The daughter of a top Iranian military commander assassinated by Israel last month said her father was chased down and killed by Israeli agents in a hot pursuit in Tehran and not an airstrike as originally reported.

Not offering explanations for any lapses, the ministry said it "detected and neutralized" Israeli plots to assassinate 23 senior civilian and military officials during the conflict and 13 similar attempts in the months leading up to it.

'Thugs, rebels'

The ministry alleged that it had carried out successful intelligence operations inside Israel, saying its activities were ongoing.

"Numerous and varied offensive and intelligence measures (aggressive espionage) were carried out in various cities of the occupied territories against the interests of the Zionist regime and the criminal gang that rules it."

Israeli authorities say they have uncovered more than 25 cases of Iranian recruitment over the past year, with more than 35 people indicted on serious security charges.

"One of the approaches implemented was to recruit intelligence and operational agents from the regime’s innermost military and security layers," the ministry added. "The larger and more sensitive part of the missions is still ongoing."

The ministry said it had faced down threats from street thugs to the NATO alliance.

"The enemy sought to activate criminals, diverse terrorists in various guises, deploy awaiting spies, conduct assassinations and sabotage, and to mobilize mercenaries, monarchist remnants, thugs, rebel groups, and dormant hypocrite cells to inflame tensions, provoke dissatisfaction and professional protests, and turn conditions into uncontrolled street riots and chaos”, the statement said.

"We faced not only the petty Zionist regime but also the Western intelligence-security NATO,” it added.

A June 23 Israeli air attack on Evin Prison - known for housing dissidents and foreign detainees - was aimed at catalyzing a nationwide revolt, the ministry alleged. Iranian authorities said 80 people were killed in the attack and Amnesty International called for it to be investigated as a war crime.

“We detected and fully neutralized a Mossad-directed monarchist plot to launch and dispatch armed operational teams from across the country to Tehran on June 22 for terrorist actions the next day (during the Evin prison bombing) targeting nearby military and law enforcement centers," the ministry said.

“This monarchist-Zionist scenario was thwarted by identifying involved agents, striking enemy operational teams, and arresting 122 mercenaries across 23 provinces before any terrorist action in Tehran."

"Days without water in the scorching heat of July. There's no access to water for drinking, bathing, washing or cooling homes," the US State Department said in a post on its Persian X account, referring to the ongoing water crisis in Iran.

"The people of Iran continue to suffer the real consequences of the regime's greed, corruption, and mismanagement of water resources," the State Department said in the post accompanied by an image captioned, "Iranian people deserve better than this."

Officials in Tehran blame drought and public overuse for Iran’s worst water shortage in living memory.

Despite a UN “red warning” 25 years ago, Iran expanded hydropower rather than wastewater treatment. 80% of untreated wastewater is dumped into rivers, deserts and underground wells, contaminating key water sources.

Amid an unprecedented heatwave in Iran, many natural and engineered water reservoirs across the country particularly in Tehran, Alborz and Fars provinces are nearly depleted.

In the capital Tehran, officials have attempted to curb consumption through emergency measures, including repeated water and electricity outages and temporary office closures on certain days.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has built over 60 dams in recent decades. More than half are now empty, with hydropower generation operating at just one-third of its nominal capacity.

“Some might think my father was killed in an airstrike, but it was a direct chase with the Israelis,” Mahdieh Shadmani said in a video posted on Instagram on Monday.

The assertion, if confirmed, would further underscore Iranian security failures which allowed Israel to track and kill hundreds of security personnel in a 12-day war last month.

Ali Shadmani was declared dead on June 17, reportedly from wounds sustained from an Israeli air attack in Tehran.

As commander of the Islamic Republic's war room, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Shadmani was effectively in charge if Iran's war effort.

Shadmani was killed only four days after assuming the post after his predecessor Gholam Ali Rashid was assassinated in an Israeli strike.

Mahdieh Shadmani had earlier disputed official Iranian assertions which blamed messaging applications like WhatsApp for exposing locations that led to Israeli assassinations.

“My father’s location changed every few hours. He carried no smart devices or phones. Security protocols were followed, yet during his time commanding the war headquarters, he was repeatedly targeted for assassination by Israel,” she said on July 4.

Her comments have sparked backlash among supporters of the Islamic Republic. One anonymous user on X said the families of those killed during the 12-day war with Israel “should watch their mouth” and that “some control is needed over their speech.”

Several official narratives regarding the scope and consequences of Israel’s strikes on Iran have come under growing scrutiny.

On July 22, an Iranian political analyst said there had been widespread sabotage of Iran's missile launchers and air defense systems by Israel.

Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks during the 12-day war killed hundreds of Iranians including civilians, military personnel and nuclear scientists. Iran's retaliatory missile strikes killed 29 Israeli civilians.