TEHRAN (AP) — Rain fell for the first time in months in Iran’s capital Wednesday, providing a brief respite for the parched Islamic Republic as it suffers through the driest autumn in over a half century.

The drought gripping Iran has seen its president warn the country it may need to move its government out of Tehran by the end of December if there’s not significant rainfall to recharge dams around the capital. Meteorologists have described this fall as the driest in over 50 years across the country — from even before its 1979 Islamic Revolution — further straining a system that expends vast amounts of water inefficiently on agriculture.

Water shortages have sparked localized protests in the past, something Iran has been trying to avoid as its economy struggles under the weight of international sanctions over its nuclear program.

“The water crisis in Iran has, in recent years, escalated from a recurring drought issue into a profound political and security problem that has the regime leadership concerned,” the New York-based Soufan Center said.

The drought has been a long subject of conversation across Tehran and wider Iran, from government officials openly discussing it with visiting journalists to people purchasing water tanks for their homes. In the capital, government-sponsored billboards call on the public not to use garden hoses outside to avoid waste. Water service reportedly goes out for hours in some neighborhoods of Tehran, home to 10 million people.

Snowpack on the surrounding Alborz Mountains remains low as well, particularly after a summer that saw temperatures rise near 50°C (122°F) in some areas of the country, forcing government buildings to shut down.

Ahad Vazifeh, an official in the........

© The Times of Israel