Overview
- State media reported the first cloud‑seeding flight of the water year over the Lake Urmia basin, with authorities planning further operations across East and West Azerbaijan and efforts continuing into mid‑May using aircraft or drones if conditions allow.
- Iran’s meteorological agency says nationwide rainfall is about 89% below long‑term averages, marking the driest fall in 50 years, with brief showers and Tochal snowfall offering little overall relief.
- Tehran’s reservoirs are at critical levels near 5% of reserve capacity, officials have reduced nighttime pressure, and plans for rolling cuts and rationing are being drawn up for the capital and other major cities.
- President Masoud Pezeshkian warned evacuation could be required if substantial rain does not arrive, while residents hold rain prayers, students protest shortages, and households buy storage tanks as anxiety grows.
- Analysts attribute the crisis to prolonged drought compounded by over‑extraction, inefficient farming and governance failures, and they caution that cloud seeding cannot create rain without suitable clouds.