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November 14, 2025; hundreds, if not thousands, of people throng four shrines in Tehran, the capital of Iran. It is a Friday, but these crowds are not for the usual prayers. Rather, they offer salat al-istisqa, a traditional communal prayer pleading for rain during drought. This call for divine intervention is a penance and a plea for mercy from the drought that has gripped Iran for five years. Even Autumn 2025, rainfall recorded 90 per cent below long-term averages, making it the driest season for Iran in nearly half a century. Northwest Iran’s lake Urmia dried up, reportedly resulting in salt storms.
In the days after the communal prayer in Tehran, the government mounts cloud seeding in the lake Urmia basin. Authorities speak of possible water rationing. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also hints at evacuation of some 10 million people from Tehran.
Do the prayers work? Fast forward to January, and it would appear not. The drought approaches its sixth year, but the exact situation is difficult to gauge due to a complete internet shutdown. What started as a desperate scramble for resources may have blown up into social upheaval and unrest.
“I have been told that the unrest started from the Isfahan region where the water scarcity was the worst for many years and where there have been continuous protests since the past few years about water issues,” Prabodha Sarangi, an information technology manager based in Bahrain who frequently visits Iran, tells Down To Earth (DTE). “The government clampdown has been very severe this time around with 20,000 feared killed but we cannot really be sure,” he adds.
There is debate over the direct triggers for the unrest. On January 17, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, acknowledged that thousands of Iranians have lost their lives, citing geopolitical tensions with the US and Israel as the reason. However, media reports, including from The Guardian, state that unrest stemmed directly from a “day zero” crisis in multiple cities such as Tehran, Mashhad and Tabriz…
This article is part of the cover story Great drying published in the February 1-15, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth