{"id":54218,"date":"2025-11-16T11:42:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T16:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/iran-begins-cloud-seeding-to-induce-rain-amid-historic-drought\/16\/11\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T11:42:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T16:42:46","slug":"iran-begins-cloud-seeding-to-induce-rain-amid-historic-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/iran-begins-cloud-seeding-to-induce-rain-amid-historic-drought\/16\/11\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran begins cloud seeding to induce rain amid historic drought"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Authorities in Iran have sprayed clouds with chemicals to induce rain, in an attempt to combat the country&#8217;s worst drought in decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Known as cloud-seeding, the process was conducted over the Urmia lake basin on Saturday, Iran&#8217;s official news agency Irna reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Urmia is Iran&#8217;s largest lake, but has largely dried out leaving a vast salt bed. Further operations will be carried out in east and west Azerbaijan, the agency said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Rainfall is at record lows and reservoirs are nearly empty. Last week President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that if there is not enough rainfall soon, Tehran&#8217;s water supply could be rationed and people may be evacuated from the capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/science-environment-68839043?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Cloud seeding;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Cloud seeding<\/a> involves injecting chemical salts including silver or potassium iodide into clouds via aircraft or through generators on the ground. Water vapour can then condense more easily and turn into rain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The technique has been around for decades, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/clyk0nd1nq6o?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:and the UAE has used it in recent years to help address water shortages;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">and the UAE has used it in recent years to help address water shortages<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Iran&#8217;s meteorological organisation said rainfall had decreased by about 89% this year compared with the long-term average, Irna reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We are currently experiencing the driest autumn the country has experienced in 50 years,&#8221; it added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials have also announced plans to penalise households and businesses that consume excessive amounts of water.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Women during the rainfall prayer at the Saleh Shrine in northern Tehran [EPA\/Shutterstock]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The head of Iran&#8217;s National Centre for Climate and Drought Crisis Management, Ahmad Vazifeh said dams in Tehran, West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan and Markazi are in a &#8220;worrying state&#8221;, with water levels in the single-digit percentages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Friday, hundreds gathered at a mosque in Tehran to pray for rainfall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Iranian meteorologists reported there was some rainfall in the west and northwest of the country on Saturday &#8211; with video showing snowfall on a ski resort north of Tehran for the first time this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Countries including the United Arab Emirates have also used cloud seeding to address water shortages, following the floods in Dubai last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/iran-begins-cloud-seeding-induce-162401368.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities in Iran have sprayed clouds with chemicals to induce rain, in an attempt to combat the country&rsquo;s worst drought in decades.<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/iran-begins-cloud-seeding-to-induce-rain-amid-historic-drought\/16\/11\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/RJB0AwEMNPFMa1EIcxg1.g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU7Y2Y9d2VicA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/04f3a38517adeef593d2de2750e52d8d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}