Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain.
Pezeshkian said the pressure on water, land and infrastructure had left the government with “no option” but to act. “When we said we must move the capital, we did not even have enough budget. If we had, maybe it would have been done. The reality is that we no longer have a choice; it is an obligation,” he said in a speech in Qazvin.
He said Tehran now faces “catastrophe” as land in parts of the capital sinks by up to 30 centimeters a year and water supplies shrink. “When we say the land subsides 30 centimeters each day, this means disaster,” he said. He warned that mismanagement, construction in upstream areas and cuts to downstream water flows risk irreversible damage.
Pezeshkian said officials across government must work together or “a dark future” awaits. “Protecting the environment is not a joke,” he said. “Ignoring it means signing our own destruction.”
The president said the mismatch between water resources and demand had reached a breaking point. “We can bring water from the Persian Gulf, but it will be costly,” he said, arguing that Tehran’s population and construction load can no longer expand.
Makran: potential and limits
Iran announced in January that the government was studying plans to move the capital to the southern Makran coast, a remote region overlooking the Gulf of Oman. Officials said the shift could ease Tehran’s overcrowding, energy shortages and water stress.
The idea has surfaced repeatedly since the 1979 revolution but has stalled due to political resistance and soaring costs. Past administrations explored alternatives including Semnan, Qom and Isfahan but financial constraints halted progress.
Officials have said Makran’s coastline offers access to the Indian Ocean and a base for sea-linked economic projects. The area includes Chabahar, Iran’s only oceanic port and a gateway to Central Asia.
But critics say the region is underdeveloped, exposed to security risks and far from ready to host a national capital. Opponents argue the country cannot afford the tens of billions of dollars such a move would require at a time of economic strain, high inflation and renewed UN sanctions.
According to the officials, Hamas’s military wing “has been rebuilding its force since the ceasefire took hold, gathering intelligence, recruiting and training operatives, and preparing for escalation,” the paper said.
The assessment followed an air strike the Israeli military said killed a Hamas battalion commander in Gaza and recent air strikes in Lebanon, one of which killed 13 people in a Palestinian refugee camp this week.
The officials said US pressure is “for now, restraining a sharper Israeli response” to Hezbollah’s ceasefire violations.
Southern Command sources said Hamas is seeking “operational opportunities to launch a surprise, limited attack against IDF units inside Palestinian territory, in violation of the deal.”
Military sources told the paper that Hezbollah is acting “in clear violation of the ceasefire understandings” and is moving “in the opposite direction of demilitarizing southern Lebanon and disarming.”
They said weapons were being moved into southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley as part of efforts to restore infrastructure with Iranian support.
Hezbollah’s quiet revival
Western and regional intelligence reports say Iran’s Quds Force helped Hezbollah rebuild its command structure after the killing of leader Hassan Nasrallah last year.
According to Le Figaro, Iranian operatives led by Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani reorganized the group’s military wing within days, introducing younger commanders and tighter secrecy.
Hezbollah has agreed to withdraw its forces from the southern front but continues to store weapons north of the Litani River and in the Bekaa Valley, the report said.
Iran’s strategy, it added, aims to preserve Hezbollah’s deterrent power while avoiding direct confrontation with Israel.
Beirut challenges Tehran’s reach
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reportedly confronted Iran’s role in the country, breaking precedent by calling for Hezbollah’s disarmament. In a since-withdrawn interview, Aoun said he told Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani that “the Shi'ites of Lebanon are my responsibility, not yours.”
Aoun said Hezbollah’s military wing was “finished” and that he was seeking “an honorable end” to its armed role.
His comments followed a cabinet decision approving a US-backed roadmap to dismantle Hezbollah’s arsenal by the end of the year. Tehran has rejected the plan, accusing the West of trying to weaken Lebanon’s defenses.
Tension spills into Syria
Israel’s security leadership fears the growing coordination between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Tehran could extend into Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the country's south this week, with top defense and intelligence officials, signaled Israel’s determination to maintain its security buffer on the Golan Heights.
The visit came after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he would normalize relations with Israel if the IDF withdrew from the Syrian Golan.
Security officials said they were not impressed by the rapprochement between the White House and Damascus and argued that al-Sharaa’s “jihadist past cannot be erased so quickly,” adding that he “does not necessarily control his own country.”
