Iran Launches Cloud-Seeding Operations to Ease Water Crisis

Iran has carried out its first cloud seeding operation of the 2025-2026 water year amid an acute water crisis that has even raised alarms about drinking-water supplies in major cities, including the capital Tehran.

The official IRNA news agency said in a Sunday report that cloud seeding had started a day earlier in the northwest of the country in the Lake Urmia drainage basin.

It said an equipped aircraft had been sent to the area to spray clouds and induce rainfall from a rain system moving through the country.

Head of the Organization for Development and Use of Meteoric Water Technologies, a subsidiary of the Iranian Energy Ministry established four years ago, said similar operations were underway in other parts of Iran.

“We will try to carry out this operation on all suitable (rain) systems entering the country that are ripe for cloud-seeding,” said Mohammad Mehdi Javadian Zadeh.

Javadian Zadeh said cloud seeing may take place in the province of Tehran, where the capital is located, on Monday, if experts identify a suitable rain system.

He added that one such system could move through central Iran on Monday, allowing authorities to launch cloud seeding in the area.

The official said Iran has the resources and funding needed to continue cloud seeding until May next year, but cautioned against raising public expectations about the impacts of the operations.

Iran has been grappling with one of its worst droughts in decades, prompting authorities in Tehran and other large cities to introduce nighttime water pressure reduction programs. - Press TV