Iran dairy sector hit as raw milk surge in 5 months equals 50 years of increases

Footage published from Abdanan, in Ilam province, showed torrents of water sweeping through residential districts and damaging roads and neighborhoods. 

Local officials said downpours in Abdanan and Dehloran led to overflowing waterways, the swelling of several rivers and the emergency evacuation of a number of families.

Relief teams from the Iranian Red Crescent were deployed to pump water out of flooded homes and clear blocked streets, authorities said. 

Damage assessments were continuing on Monday, with officials saying their immediate priority was helping families whose houses had been inundated.

The national meteorological organization issued flood warnings for six western provinces and forecast rainfall in 18 of the country’s 31 provinces. 

It said precipitation across Iran this year is roughly 85% below average, a shortfall that has emptied reservoirs and left taps running dry in several regions, including parts of Tehran.

Experts and officials have attributed the worsening crisis to prolonged drought, climate change, poor water management, illegal well drilling and inefficient agricultural practices. 

Extended dry spells reduce the soil’s ability to absorb water, increasing the likelihood of flash floods when rain does occur.

Over the weekend, Iran conducted its first cloud-seeding operation of the year above the watershed of Lake Urmia in the northwest.

Cloud seeding involves dispersing chemicals into clouds to stimulate rainfall, though meteorologists caution that it is expensive and provides only limited benefit.

“In addition to cloud seeding’s heavy cost, the amount of rainfall it produces is nowhere near what is needed to solve our water crisis,” Sahar Tajbakhsh, head of Iran’s Meteorological Organization, told state television on Sunday.

The Energy Ministry’s atmospheric water technologies organization said the first flight of the 2024–25 water year was conducted on Saturday over northwestern Iran, where Lake Urmia – once the Middle East’s largest saltwater lake – has largely dried into a salt plain after years of drought, over-extraction and extreme heat. 

Mohammad-Mehdi Javadianzadeh, who heads the state body, said a specialized aircraft equipped for cloud seeding was deployed as a suitable weather system passed over the region.

He said teams plan to conduct operations “on all incoming systems that are technically viable” and are assessing conditions over Tehran and other provinces to determine whether additional flights can be launched in the coming days.

He said the aim is to maintain continuous operational capacity in the northwest, with authorities planning to base a dedicated aircraft in Tabriz to service both East and West Azarbaijan provinces. 

The program is expected to run until mid-May using both aircraft and drones. Cloud seeding, Javadianzadeh added, is internationally recognized as a cost-effective tool for atmospheric water harvesting.

“Cloud seeding has been shown to increase precipitation and is used around the world not only to enhance rainfall but also to suppress hail, disperse fog and increase hydropower reserves,” he said.

But he warned that the technology has limits and requires clear public messaging: “If the issue is not explained properly, expectations beyond the capacity of the technology or disappointment with it may emerge among society and decision-makers.”

Cloud seeding widely used, but not a cure-all

Cloud seeding is used in more than 50 countries, including the United States, China, Australia and several Middle Eastern states. Scientific reviews suggest that under favorable atmospheric conditions the process can boost precipitation by 5 to 15 percent, though results vary widely and remain difficult to measure precisely.

Iran’s neighbors – especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia – have expanded large-scale seeding programs, with the UAE carrying out more than 200 missions a year and investing in drone-based techniques similar to those Iran has begun deploying. 

Experts say that while cloud seeding can marginally increase rainfall, it cannot compensate for decades of overuse, aquifer depletion and climate-driven aridity across the region. 

Prayers for rain held nationwide

The new operations come as Iran faces what water specialists describe as a nationwide emergency. Reservoirs supplying Tehran are at or near historic lows, and authorities warn the capital could face extensive rationing if winter rains fail. Some neighborhoods have already reported intermittent cuts.

This week, cities across Iran held rain-seeking prayers as clerics urged the faithful to perform the traditional salat al-istisqa amid the worsening drought. 

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  Senior Iranian cleric calls for rain prayers as water crisis deepens

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  Salt storms drive migration as Iran’s Lake Urmia turns to dust

In Tehran, worshippers gathered at the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in the north of the capital on Friday. Similar ceremonies were held in Mashhad, Qom and Qazvin.

Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli said the prayer is “asking for water in all forms, not just rain,” calling it a moment for repentance and unity as water shortages deepen nationwide.

Experts say Iran is experiencing “water bankruptcy,” a condition in which consumption has exceeded renewable supply after decades of over-pumping, large-scale basin transfers and agricultural expansion. 

Northwestern Iran has been among the hardest-hit regions. Lake Urmia’s collapse has triggered expanding salt storms that have damaged farmland and forced some residents to leave nearby villages, according to local media and environmental researchers. 

Officials say unauthorized wells and heavy irrigation remain major drivers of groundwater decline.

Meteorological officials say rainfall so far this autumn is nearly 90% below long-term averages, making it the driest season in half a century.

Speaking at a meeting of the Defense Ministry’s Strategic Council, Masoud Pezeshkian said the ministry’s capabilities could help coordinate different sectors of the state and support efforts to correct fiscal and administrative shortages that have contributed to chronic budget deficits and inefficiencies.

Pezeshkian’s visit included a stop at facilities damaged during the June 12-day war with Israel, according to state media.

Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh briefed the president on plans to expand defense capabilities and deepen cooperation with public and private sectors, including technology transfer and joint industrial projects.

Pezeshkian said the armed forces’ manpower and technical expertise could be used “to help resolve problems and manage the country’s imbalances,” adding that overcoming economic strain required the same “collective mobilization” that Iran relied on during the 1980–88 war with Iraq.

He accused Iran’s adversaries of seeking to exacerbate domestic economic pressures, saying foreign powers “know that a military attack alone cannot bring down the Islamic Republic” and instead try to fuel discontent over inflation and shortages.

The president said that a “bloated administrative structure” and its associated costs remain key drivers of Iran’s budget deficit. He said his government is working to curb spending and improve productivity as it drafts next year’s budget.

“It is unacceptable to fund an administrative system, pay its staff, and yet see public dissatisfaction with the quality of services,” Pezeshkian said, urging reforms to reduce overheads and improve efficiency.

He also stressed that “unity and cohesion” were essential for addressing the country’s structural problems. “For 47 years we have focused on changing individuals rather than fixing root causes. We must begin reforms with ourselves,” he said.

Pollution levels in 14 cities across Khuzestan had reached the red category, meaning the air is unsafe for all groups, Iran’s national air-quality monitoring system reported on Saturday. Four other cities were listed as orange, posing risks to vulnerable populations.

Concentrations of airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns, according to the report, had exceeded permissible limits at many monitoring stations, pushing much of the province into hazardous territory.

Rising hospital visits and wider spread

Khuzestan has faced repeated episodes of severe pollution in recent days. Farhad Soltani, acting deputy for treatment at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, said hospital visits had risen sharply.

“The number of patients coming to hospitals increased 15 to 20 percent in October compared with the same period last year, and 20 to 25 percent in November,” he said, warning that pollution in Ahvaz and Khuzestan had reached a point where “the entire population is affected.”

Air quality has also deteriorated in other major cities. Iranian media reported that the air in the religious city of Mashhad was classified as unhealthy for sensitive groups for an eighth consecutive day on Saturday. The situation was driven by continued use of fossil fuels in industry, power plants and vehicles, combined with stagnant atmospheric conditions, Tasnim news agency wrote.

Isfahan choked for eleventh straight day

In central Iran, air quality in Isfahan remained in the red category for the eleventh consecutive day on Saturday, according to local monitoring data.

Pollution levels in the metropolis and some of its neighboring cities have risen to the point that the air is now deemed unsafe for the general population. Experts warned that conditions could deteriorate further in the coming days, citing the persistence of stagnant weather patterns and rising pollutant concentrations.

58,975 people in Iran had died from causes attributed to air pollution in the past Iranian year, equivalent to 161 deaths a day and around seven every hour, said Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi last week. Pollution-linked mortality, he added, had imposed an estimated $17.2 billion in economic losses over the same period.

Aliabadi said the price of sending desalinated water from the south to the capital was far above what the state could justify in day-to-day planning. “This is not an economic option,” he said, adding that officials “will do whatever is needed” if people’s safety is at risk.

He said Tehran’s water stress meant all workable options had to be reviewed but said some crops consumed water in ways that “do not make economic sense” and should not be supported.

Aliabadi said large desalination sites were being built in Chabahar, Bandar Abbas and Khuzestan to strengthen water supplies in the south and draw in private investment. If those plants ease pressure in the south, he said, water now moved upstream could instead be kept for Tehran and northern areas, though he said this needed detailed study.

Former minister voices strong objection

Former transport minister Abbas Akhoundi criticized the approach, saying it overlooks environmental limits and the long-term cost for the public.

He wrote that the government could not “force nature to bend to machines” and said both capital relocation plans and major desalination transfers misunderstood why Iran faces deep water stress. He said such projects would burden the country without solving the core problem and would mainly benefit contractors.

Water specialists warn Iran is nearing what they describe as water bankruptcy, where use has exceeded supply for years and the reserves that once fed major cities have been depleted.

Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, told Eye for Iran that Tehran’s reservoirs are near historic lows and that the capital is approaching “day zero,” when steady tap water can no longer be assumed.

He said if winter rains fall short, daily life in major cities could shift to storage tanks, tanker deliveries and bottled water.