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Iran Starts Cloud-Seeding Flights as Drought Deepens

The move follows the driest autumn in roughly 50 years with rainfall about 89% below long‑term norms.

Overview

  • State media reported the first cloud-seeding flight of the hydrological year over the Lake Urmia basin.
  • Authorities said additional missions are planned over East and West Azerbaijan provinces.
  • Reservoirs have fallen to historic lows, with one of Tehran’s five dams dry and another below 8% as officials impose periodic water cuts to curb use of roughly 3 million cubic meters per day.
  • President Masoud Pezeshkian’s recent suggestion that Tehran might need evacuation without rain was later framed by the government as a public warning rather than a concrete plan.
  • Public concern has prompted collective prayers for rain in north Tehran, while state outlets noted scattered showers and the season’s first snows in parts of the north.