How the war has made Iran’s water crisis worse

As Iran engages in negotiations with the United States to end the three-month war, it is confronted with a water crisis that has been overshadowed by the conflict.

Iran was already facing a multi-year drought and decline in precipitation, but the US-Israel war has added to the water woes after desalination plants, water pipelines and other civilian infrastructures were hit.

The country’s main water supplies, including its reservoirs, rivers and groundwater reserves, are running dry amid years of mismanagement through poor agricultural practices, overbuilding of dams and increased well drilling.

According to the Aqueduct Data of the World Resources Institute, which measures water risks, Iran’s baseline water stress score falls into the “extremely high” category, meaning the country uses more than 80 percent of its renewable water supplies in an average year.

Here’s what we know about the water crisis and how the war worsened the situation:

In November 2025, Iran faced its worst water crisis in decades, following its fifth consecutive year of drought, which had left water reserves across the country nearly empty.

Water levels were so severe that Tehran’s Amir Kabir Dam only held 8 percent of its capacity, while across the country, 19 major dams had run dry.

At the time, President Masoud Pezehkian warned that if it did not rain by December, water would have to be rationed, and if there was still no rainfall, Tehran might have to be evacuated.