Iranian Officials Call for Water and Fuel Conservation

Iranian officials have issued repeated public appeals for citizens to reduce consumption of water, fuel and electricity. State media cited a Tehran Province water and wastewater company spokesperson who said all government and nongovernmental bodies must install water-saving equipment and manage usage.

U.S. and Israeli strikes damaged parts of Tehran’s fuel distribution network. President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that the country faces difficulty exporting oil, collecting taxes and supporting businesses under current conditions.

Iran has experienced six years of drought linked to dam construction on rivers unable to sustain the projects, according to the source. Peyman Alami, head of Iran’s Agricultural Guild Chamber, said repeated power outages at agricultural wells could cut crop production by 25 to 30 percent.

Keven Madani, Iranian director of the UN Institute of Water, Environment and Health, attributed water-security problems to decades of planning and management decisions. In November, Pezeshkian said he might need to relocate the capital from Tehran to a coastal area at an estimated cost of $100 billion.

U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, and begin 60 days of nuclear negotiations, the White House said.