{"id":339653,"date":"2025-11-22T16:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T15:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=339653"},"modified":"2025-11-22T16:00:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T15:00:35","slug":"irans-water-fuel-and-food-crises-reveal-a-regime-out-of-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/economy\/irans-water-fuel-and-food-crises-reveal-a-regime-out-of-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Water, Fuel and Food Crises Reveal a Regime Out of Options"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Huge wildfires reported in Iran\u2019s Hirkanian forests, November 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On Saturday, November 22, 2025, Iran entered another day of closures and improvisation. Toxic air forced schools and universities across Tehran, Khuzestan, East and West Azerbaijan, and Markazi to shut or move online<\/a>. In Qazvin, a senior lawmaker warned that \u201cif Tehran is thirsty, Qazvin is hungry\u201d after the province lost a major portion of its water rights. At the same time, the government began rolling out a new tier of imported \u201csuper\u201d gasoline while state media confirmed that nearly 438,000 people had been removed from the monthly subsidy rolls.<\/p>\n

These are not parallel crises\u2014they are a single political story: a state trapped between fiscal collapse and social volatility, rationing necessities it can no longer provide, and fearing the unrest that any correction might trigger.<\/p>\n

Water As Governance Failure<\/h2>\n

In Qazvin on November 20, MP Ruhollah Abbaspour\u2014speaking directly in front of the regime’s president Masoud Pezeshkian\u2014laid out<\/a> the province\u2019s position bluntly. With 280 million cubic meters of its water rights cut, households cannot secure even basic needs. \u201cPeople will resist,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

Abbaspour is not an outsider. As a former head of the Planning and Budget Organization, he also admitted that the prices of essential foods have risen around 100% year-on-year, and that eliminating the remaining $12 billion in preferential foreign exchange would hit the poorest hardest because \u201cphase two\u201d\u2014compensation\u2014\u201cnever comes.\u201d His warning was not social advocacy. It was a signal to fellow insiders that removing subsidies without cushioning society is now politically dangerous.<\/p>\n

Environmental collapse is reinforcing that sense of abandonment. Since early November, parts of the Hirkanian forests near Elit in the Chalous region have burned with little state response. The president\u2019s executive deputy triggered public outrage after referring to the area as a mere \u201cgrassland,\u201d<\/a> minimizing the disaster. Only after days of criticism did the Environment Organization confirm that two Turkish firefighting planes, a helicopter, and additional personnel were being sent to help. The admission underscored what people already see: a state unable\u2014or unwilling\u2014to protect the natural systems millions rely on.<\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a> News: #Wildfires<\/a> Ravage Iran\u2019s Forests Amidst Drought and Systemic Negligencehttps:\/\/t.co\/oCvE8eMLxl<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n