Iran’s ‘Water Mafia’ Pushes the Country Toward Day Zero
Iran is running out of water and excuses. In her investigation for The Media Line, Giorgia Valente traces how years of corrupt mega-projects and political favoritism have pushed the country toward “water bankruptcy,” turning drought into a man-made disaster that now threatens Tehran with “Day Zero.” After one of the driest years on record, the capital’s dams are depleted, reservoirs are shrinking, and protests are erupting from Khuzestan to Isfahan as villagers and farmers watch rivers and wells vanish.
Two Iranian experts tell Valente that climate change is only the accelerant. Cartoonist and water analyst Nik Kowsar describes an entrenched “water mafia” built around major construction and engineering firms tied to the security establishment. Profits flowed, he says, while aquifers collapsed, wetlands dried up, and marginalized regions became “sacrifice zones” stripped of both water security and dignity.
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From his vantage point in the private sector, Hamid-Reza Najmi of Geo Acumen sees the same pattern: water diverted to politically favored steel and agribusiness projects, rural communities forced to migrate to city fringes, and demonstrations that begin with the chant “We are thirsty” and quickly turn into wider protests over corruption, inequality, and women’s rights after the death of Mahsa Amini.
This is no longer just an environmental story. Land subsidence, failing farms, and cross-border disputes over rivers are reshaping Iran’s demography and straining a social contract already frayed by sanctions and repression. Both experts argue that Iran has the engineers to repair the damage but lacks the political will to confront the networks that profit from scarcity. For a fuller picture of how water has become both weapon and rallying cry in today’s Iran, readers should turn to Valente’s detailed report.
