A Thirsty Iran Provides an Opening for the U.S.

Rivers are running dry, cities are shutting down, and Iranians know who to blame for their parched land: the tyrants in Tehran. From July 25-29, protests erupted across towns in Iran’s northern, northeastern, and central provinces in response to repeated water outages. On July 28, the regime shut down government offices, schools, and banks in 11 provinces, citing electricity shortages, extreme heat, and, most critically, water scarcity.

While there have been many waves of protests in Iran, this one stands out for its concentration in industrial and agricultural cities, where disruptions to power and water supplies directly threaten livelihoods and local economies. The people who live in these regions, many of whom are either rural or working class, have formed the regime’s backbone. Now, years of water mismanagement and destructive state policies — compounded by climate change — have brought the same people out onto the streets.

Water Scarcity Is Iran’s Leading Environmental Challenge

Iran is experiencing a nationwide rainfall deficit of around 45 percent in 2025. Precipitation totaled just 7 inches in Tehran province, one of the most water-stressed regions. Nationwide dam reserves have fallen to around 46 percent of total capacity, with seven major dams at less than 10 percent. More than 40 cities across Iran endure regular water rationing and supply outages, and at least 19 provinces are experiencing water stress. Among Iran’s indicators of ecological collapse is Lake Urmia, once the Middle East’s largest saltwater lake, which has lost 90 percent of its volume since the 1970s.

Iran suffers more than 1,700 heat-related deaths annually, nearly five times the regional average of 2.1 per 100,000, as temperatures in some areas surpass 50°C (122°F) without basic infrastructure to cope. With parts of the country becoming increasingly unlivable, former regime officials have warned that unchecked climate trends and water shortages could eventually displace up to 70 percent of the population — nearly 50 million people.

Regime Policies Exacerbate Iran’s Climate Crisis

Some of this mismanagement is willful. Regime institutions and elites enrich themselves through policies formulated at the environment’s expense. The U.S. Treasury-sanctioned construction arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Khatam al-Anbiya, has accelerated ecological collapse through unregulated dam-building, river diversion, and land disruption, contributing to widespread drought while profiting from inflated, state-awarded contracts.

Another key player is Iran’s Energy Ministry, which even regime media have accused of exacerbating Iran’s water crisis through dam construction projects built without proper environmental assessments, long-term hydrological planning, or engineering oversight. Operating under the ministry, the Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company (IWPCO) leads initiatives that have drained ecosystems. Beyond neglecting aging water infrastructure, this network manipulates policy to fund unchecked concrete-heavy projects, including diversion canals and reservoir infrastructure. These initiatives consume vast public resources, bypass regulatory review, and worsen water shortages by disrupting natural flows. Water is diverted to politically connected industries, while rampant groundwater extraction fuels land subsidence nationwide.

Water Scarcity Has Triggered Civic Unrest in Iran

The most significant water-related uprising in recent years occurred in 2021 in Khuzestan province, where locals took to the streets over outages and lack of access to clean drinking water. The unrest quickly spread to several other provinces, though Khuzestan remained the epicenter. There, regime forces killed six and arrested about 400 protesters.

Regime crackdowns have failed to put an end to water protests. Just a month before the September 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, hundreds came out against water outages in Hamedan province. Sistan and Baluchestan province residents held similar demonstrations in 2023, demanding that the regime secure Iran’s rightful share of the Helmand River, which flows from Afghanistan. In March 2025, farmers in Isfahan province mobilized over the drying of the Zayandeh Rud River due to regime mismanagement, a protest wave that turned violent following state repression.

Fueling Environmental Crises Constitutes Human Rights Violations

The country is growing increasingly uninhabitable, with the regime viewed as the primary architect of this collapse. This presents Washington with an opportunity to demonstrate alignment with the Iranian people through deliberate public diplomacy.

Beyond such gestures, the United States should sanction senior officials and high-level executives overseeing the projects that are destroying livelihoods across Iran, treating such environmental devastation as a human rights violation warranting accountability.

Janatan Sayeh is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he focuses on Iranian domestic affairs and the Islamic Republic’s regional malign influence. For more analysis from FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Janatan on X @JanatanSayeh. Follow FDD on X  @FDD and @FDD_Iran. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.