Dec 3, 2025, 4:36 p.mDec 3, 2025, 4:36 p.m
The water in Iran’s reservoirs is running low.Image: keystone
Due to the drought in Iran, the government wants to buy water from neighboring countries. “If a country is willing to sell water, we will buy it,” said Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi, Fars news agency reported. The import of products that use a lot of water in order to save water is also on the agenda.
Most of Iran’s neighboring countries are themselves suffering from drought and water shortages – including Iraq, Afghanistan and the Pakistani border regions. Armenia in the north, on the other hand, has comparatively larger water reserves.
Experts have been warning of a water crisis for years
Iran is one of the driest countries in the world. In recent years, experts have noticed a significant decrease in rainfall, while at the same time droughts and other extreme weather events are increasing.
Experts have been warning for years that agriculture in Iran is suffering from false incentives: instead of adapting to the water-scarce conditions, particularly thirsty crops have been subsidized. Traditional cultivation methods have been displaced – with fatal long-term consequences for soils and reserves. Thousands of families have left rural areas.
UN expert: “A failure of the system”
Iran is experiencing a drought for the sixth year in a row, wrote UN expert Kaveh Madani in the business magazine Forbes. In addition to climate change, he also criticized years of mismanagement. “What we are experiencing today is no longer a water crisis, but rather a “water insolvency” – a failure of the system that has withdrawn more water over a longer period of time than nature could replenish.”
Madani called for a rethink and radical savings in agriculture, which is responsible for a good 90 percent of water consumption in Iran. (sda/dpa)