Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Iran’s Capital Is Moving. The Reason Is an Ecological Catastrophe.
Scientific American ^ | November 21, 2025 | Humberto Basilio

Posted on 11/22/2025 12:52:55 PM PST by Salman

Amid a deepening ecological crisis and acute water shortage, Tehran can no longer remain the capital of Iran, the country’s president has said.

The situation in Tehran is the result of “a perfect storm of climate change and corruption,” says Michael Rubin, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

“We no longer have a choice,” said Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian during a speech on Thursday.

Instead Iranian officials are considering moving the capital to the country’s southern coast. But experts say the proposal does not change the reality for the nearly 10 million people who live in Tehran and are now suffering the consequences of a decades-long decline in water supply.

Since at least 2008, scientists have warned that unchecked groundwater pumping for the city and for agriculture was rapidly draining the country’s aquifers. The overuse did not just deplete underground reserves—it destroyed them, as the land compressed and sank irreversibly. One recent study found that Iran’s central plateau, where most of the country’s aquifers are located, is sinking by more than 35 centimeters each year. As a result, the aquifers lose about 1.7 billion cubic meters of water annually as the ground is permanently crushed, leaving no space for underground water storage to recover, says Darío Solano, a geoscientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who was not involved with the study.

...

(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Iran
KEYWORDS: drought; ecoterrorism; ecoterrorists; globalwarminghoax; greennewdeal; iran; mullahloversonfr; tehran
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-56 next last
Not really climate change (that's just Michael Rubin editorializing), but a real (non-global) man made ecological disaster story none the less.
1 posted on 11/22/2025 12:52:55 PM PST by Salman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Salman

Or, God at work.


2 posted on 11/22/2025 12:56:12 PM PST by exnavy (See article IV section 4 of our constitution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Salman

The American Enterprise Institute has somebody on their staff talking about “climate change”?

omg.

Fire them.

Now.


3 posted on 11/22/2025 12:58:46 PM PST by cgbg (The master is nice only when the dog behaves as expected.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Salman

Maybe if Iran devoted more resources to building reservoirs and aqueducts instead of weapons grade nuclear material, they wouldn’t be in such a mess. Just my opinion.


4 posted on 11/22/2025 1:02:25 PM PST by fhayek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Salman

Kansas?


5 posted on 11/22/2025 1:03:55 PM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fhayek

They built lots of dams and reservoirs. Mostly in the wrong places and Injunctions due to corruption. Huge amount of water was diverted to a massive steel plant run by the IRGC.


6 posted on 11/22/2025 1:07:05 PM PST by Kozak (Слава Україні Герояам Слава. RuZZia is a terrorist state.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Salman

Maybe some of their secret underground nuke sights have been hit by Israel and a radioactive nightmare is emerging.


7 posted on 11/22/2025 1:10:58 PM PST by CircleCityHamburgerMan (Between grace and mercy, there is no doubt mercy has been the greatest gift I've received.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: exnavy

Inshallah!


8 posted on 11/22/2025 1:11:33 PM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kozak

Damn.
Wrong places and reasons…


9 posted on 11/22/2025 1:14:27 PM PST by Kozak (Слава Україні Герояам Слава. RuZZia is a terrorist state.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Salman

has zero to do with “climate change”: Iran would have all the potable water they’d ever need if the Mullahs had built industrial reverse osmosis systems with even a tiny fraction of the hundreds of billions their regime spent on trying to destroy Israel and build nukes ...


10 posted on 11/22/2025 1:16:03 PM PST by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kozak

I hear they might like Minneapolis.


11 posted on 11/22/2025 1:16:18 PM PST by Celerity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: fhayek

“building reservoirs and aqueducts”

iran has hundreds of reservoirs and aqueducts, just no rain to fill them ... they needed to build reverse osmosis systems like Israel and Saudi Arabia did, instead of pissing away hundreds of billions of dollars on trying to destroy Israel and build nukes ...


12 posted on 11/22/2025 1:18:45 PM PST by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: CircleCityHamburgerMan
Maybe some of their secret underground nuke sights have been hit by Israel

Ummm...I seem to remember our Air Force bombers and Navy missiles took out the Iranian nuke sites. Those were brave Americans, not Israelis.

13 posted on 11/22/2025 1:29:48 PM PST by Avalon Memories (Obama & Biden Inc. really did provide opportunities for Trump to be murdered.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Salman

The ancient Persian mukmuks lived in Susa half the year, and then moved to nicer-in-the-summer Ctesiphon—which would be a good idea, except that it’s about 100 miles south of Baghdad, so they would be caught between Iraq and a hard place.

What they will probably do is move to Bushehr, which would be like moving the US capital to Palm Beach because it’s next to the ocean and Mar-a-Lago is there.


14 posted on 11/22/2025 1:32:28 PM PST by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: catnipman

The country is run by idiot old men.


15 posted on 11/22/2025 1:35:24 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Salman

Building a huge city in a semi-arid place.

Like Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas?


16 posted on 11/22/2025 1:44:09 PM PST by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: exnavy

Inshallah...


17 posted on 11/22/2025 2:04:38 PM PST by Paladin2 (YMMV)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: cgbg

Why? The climate has always changed, it’s stupid to deny it.

Equally stupid to claim that humans have anything to do with it. See “Nature”.


18 posted on 11/22/2025 2:12:32 PM PST by bigbob (We are all Charlie Kirk now,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: bigbob

Context is critical.

In 2025 when an “expert” uses the term “climate change” they mean it is our fault and we need to pay the price for it.


19 posted on 11/22/2025 2:14:12 PM PST by cgbg (The master is nice only when the dog behaves as expected.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Minnesota.


20 posted on 11/22/2025 2:18:18 PM PST by BipolarBob (These violent delights have violent ends.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-56 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson