Prayers for a miracle and a drop of rain as drought persists

Water, and its absence, has become Iran's national obsession. In the mosques of northern Tehran, the imams have been praying for rain and forecasts of “rain-producing clouds” are front-page news.

- Patrick Wintour

More than 50 days have passed since the start of Iran’s rainy season and more than 20 provinces have not yet had a drop. The number of dams that have less than 5% of their reservoir capacity had increased from eight to 32, and the crisis has spread from the central plains right across the country.

Last Sunday, authorities attempted to take matters into their own hands, launching cloud seeding operations to try to induce rainfall. Cloud seeding involves spraying particles such as silver iodide and salt into clouds from aircraft to trigger rain. On Monday, the intervention appeared to be working; the country’s meteorological organisation said it expected rain in 18 out of Iran’s 31 provinces and issued flood warnings for six.

In Tehran, only 1mm of rain has fallen this year (the capital’s average annual rainfall between 1991 and 2000 was 350mm). This comes on top of five previous years of drought.