Authorities in Iran have sprayed clouds with chemicals to induce rain, in an attempt to combat the country's worst drought in decades.
Known as cloud-seeding, the process was conducted over the Urmia lake basin on Saturday, according to Iran's official news agency Irna.
Urmia, Iran's largest lake, has largely dried out, leaving a vast salt bed. Further operations will be carried out in east and west Azerbaijan, the agency stated.
Rainfall is at record lows, and reservoirs are nearly empty. Last week, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that if the rainfall doesn’t improve soon, Tehran’s water supply could be rationed and people may need to evacuate from the capital.
Cloud seeding involves injecting chemical salts including silver or potassium iodide into clouds via aircraft or ground generators. This increases water vapor condensation and promotes rainfall.
The technique has been utilized for decades; the UAE has also employed it recently to address water shortages.
Iran's meteorological organization reported an 89% decrease in rainfall this year compared to the long-term average, describing the conditions as the driest autumn in 50 years.
Officials have revealed plans to penalize households and businesses that consume excessive amounts of water.
The head of Iran’s National Centre for Climate and Drought Crisis Management, Ahmad Vazifeh, expressed concerns about the critically low water levels in dams across several provinces, indicating that they are in a worrying state with water levels in single-digit percentages.
On Friday, hundreds gathered at a mosque in Tehran to pray for rain.
Iranian meteorologists reported that some areas in the west and northwest experienced limited rainfall on Saturday, with video footage showcasing snowfall at a ski resort north of Tehran for the first time this year.
