By Dylan Johnston

Iran faces major water crisis (Image: Unsplash)

The Iranian government have begun cloud seeding to induce rain amid the nation's major water crisis.

Iran has experienced its worst drought in decades during recent months. The country’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that Tehran may be evacuated if rain does not fall soon.

Iran's meteorological organisation, said: "We are currently experiencing the driest autumn the country has experienced in 50 years."

The organisation claim that rainfall has been 89% below expected levels in 2025.

Cloud seeding is the process of manipulating clouds to produce rain through the release of silver or potassium iodide particles, usually via aircraft. These particles freeze the clouds, creating rainfall when the ice melts.

Cloud seeding is an effective method for inducing rainfall, raising the likelihood by up to 15%, but it’s not perfect. The chemicals used, like silver, can be toxic and lead to skin irritation. The long-term effects of cloud seeding on wildlife and agriculture are also unknown, and potentially harmful.

A recent attempt at cloud seeding in Delhi was unsuccessful due to a lack of moisture in the clouds, illustrating another shortcoming of the method. It’s also only a viable solution when there are clouds in the sky to seed. In instances of clear skies, authorities must look elsewhere for answers.

There are concerns that using cloud seeding as a crutch will obscure the real problem. The BBC's global environment correspondent Navin Singh Kadka, said: "If we start introducing these kinds of things, then government and society won't address the cause of the problem.”

Environmentalists like Kadka argue that the rising demand for cloud seeding should point us towards fighting climate change instead of finding short term fixes.

Kadka said: "If this is promoted as a silver bullet then people tend to drift away from the real solutions."

Iran’s former Deputy Head of the Department of Environment, Kaveh Madani, argues that blaming this drought solely on climate change is inaccurate. Madani authored the 2016 study "Iran’s Socio-economic Drought: Challenges of a Water-Bankrupt Nation”.

In this paper, along with his colleagues Amir AghaKouchak & Ali Mirchi, Madani argues that the Iranian governments mismanagement of water bodies would cause widespread desertification.

According to a Reuters profile of Madani, he believes that by focusing blame on climate change induced by western nations, the Iranian government is avoiding accountability for its failures to avoid this crisis.

Madani said: "The water bankruptcy situation was not created overnight

"The house was already on fire, and people like myself had warned the government for years that this situation would emerge."

Iran faces biggest drought in 50 years