Iran’s president under fire as economic malaise buries campaign pledges
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian is coming under growing pressure for what critics call his failure to match tough talk on economic reform with concrete action.
Economy & Environment
Senior Iranian cleric calls for rain prayers as water crisis deepens
An Iranian Grand Ayatollah has urged the faithful to perform traditional Islamic prayers for rainfall as a worsening drought across the country has caused water shortages and threatens to eventually make the capital Tehran uninhabitable.
Can Tehran use the Cape Town model to escape a water crisis 'Day Zero'?
As Iran’s capital Tehran endures its worst water crisis in living memory, few recent global cases offer clearer lessons than Cape Town in South Africa in 2018.
Iran's water crisis continues as outages, low pressure linger
A water shortage in Iran is becoming more widespread with people reporting pressure drops and low-quality water even as Tehran officials deny reports of rationing.
Thousands of Iran energy workers protest low pay, poor conditions
Thousands of contract workers at the South Pars gas complex in southern Iran held a large protest on Tuesday demanding better working conditions, fair pay, and the removal of private labor contractors, Iranian labor outlets reported.
US seeks new bases near key Iranian port, Khamenei adviser says
The US is trying to set up military bases near Iran’s southern port on the Gulf of Oman to tighten control over regional energy and trade routes, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday.
Iran must adapt development plan to current economic realities, VP says
Iran’s vice president told parliament on Monday that the government must adapt implementation of the Seventh Development Plan to the country’s current conditions, citing financial shortfalls, sanctions pressure and post-crisis constraints that have reshaped policy priorities.
Iran drug and medical costs surge 70% after subsidy removal
Prices of medicines, medical equipment and healthcare services in Iran have surged by around 70% following the government’s removal of the subsidized exchange rate for drug imports, domestic media reported on Monday.
Water crisis threatens Iran’s stability and global standing, UN expert warns
Iran’s worsening water crisis, described by a top United Nations environmental expert as a state of “water bankruptcy,” risks crippling the country’s infrastructure, undermining its stability, and weakening its influence internationally.
Water reserves in Iran’s second-largest city drop below 3%
Water reserves in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, the country’s second-largest city and a major religious center with around four million residents, have dropped below 3% of capacity, an Iranian water official said on Sunday.
Air pollution killed seven Iranians every hour last year, official says
Air pollution caused about 58,975 deaths in Iran in the Iranian calendar year starting in March 2024, equivalent to 161 deaths per day and around seven every hour, the country’s deputy health minister said on Sunday.
Tehran denies water ‘rationing,’ calls it nightly pressure cuts
Iran’s National Water and Wastewater Company on Sunday rejected reports of imposing formal rationing in Tehran but admitted nightly pressure cuts citywide that may fall to zero amid worsening shortages, state media reported.
Iran’s central plateau could be depopulated over water crisis, academic warns
A senior Iranian water expert warned on Sunday that the country’s central plateau could be emptied of inhabitants if authorities fail to address the worsening water crisis, as officials in Tehran admit that rationing in the capital began too late to avert shortages.
Double squeeze: Iran faces record capital flight as oil revenues fall
Iran’s Central Bank’s latest quarterly report shows capital flight hit a historic peak in the spring of 2025, underscoring the depth of the country’s financial strain.
Tehran eyes Caspian energy boost, risking deeper dependence on Moscow
The new push for an electricity grid linking Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan grid promises closer energy integration but could leave Tehran more exposed to Moscow’s leverage as rival corridors threaten to dilute its regional role.
Tehran began water rationing too late, officials admit as crisis deepens
Iran’s water industry officials warned on Saturday that rationing in Tehran began far too late, as the capital’s water situation deteriorates rapidly amid one of its driest periods in nearly fifty years.
Tehran faces nightly water cuts as rationing begins without notice
Water rationing has quietly begun in Tehran, with several neighborhoods facing nightly supply cuts without official announcement or public warning, Iranian media reported on Saturday.
Broken machine: why Tehran’s food distribution plan won’t move the needle
Iran’s latest attempt to curb soaring food prices—delegating the distribution of staple goods in Tehran to the city’s municipality—has again exposed a deeper truth about the country’s economic crisis: quick fixes rarely work when the foundations are broken.
Rents hit record high in Iran as housing inflation deepens
Iran’s rental crisis reached its peak in October 2025, slowing the pulse of public welfare as official data showed annual rent inflation climbing to 36.5 percent -- a level economists describe as “severely burdensome” for tenants.
Iran braces for water rationing as reservoirs hit historic lows
Iranian officials warned on Thursday that water rationing could soon begin in several major cities, including Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan, as dam levels fall to their lowest in decades amid a sixth consecutive year of severe drought.
Iran’s president blames government size for inflation
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that excessive government spending and an overgrown bureaucracy are major drivers of the country’s persistent inflation, arguing that only by shrinking the state can Iran restore financial balance and ease pressure on households.
When water becomes a security threat
It begins with a sound. A hiss, then silence. A man in Tehran holds his phone to a dry faucet at midnight; you can hear the air whistling through the pipes. “It’s 11:40 p.m. and there’s a smell of fire,” he says.