Former officials and experts say decades of corruption, monopoly control, and reckless water policies are threatening Iran’s ancient civilization.
Iran is facing an escalating water crisis that experts warn could endanger the foundations of its seven-thousand-year-old civilization. Mismanagement of water resources, combined with entrenched monopolies and corruption networks, has pushed the country toward severe shortages, land subsidence, and environmental collapse.
Warnings from Former Officials
Issa Kalantari, the former head of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization, warned that poor governance of water resources has created a national emergency. Speaking to Didban Iran, he said, “Mismanagement of water resources threatens Iran’s seven-thousand-year-old civilization.”
Kalantari stressed that today’s problems were foreseen decades ago: “All the issues we are facing now were discussed twenty years ago, but everyone was chasing water extraction, transfer projects, deep and shallow wells, profiteering, and mafia games.”
He pointed directly to the Ministry of Energy and its network of consultants and contractors as the decision-makers, arguing: “Our water policymakers, consultants, and contractors are the ones imposing policies. Otherwise, how could we have dried up all our rivers just to build dams? Yes, there is a dam-building mafia, but this stems from the weakness of our policymakers.”
The Role of Mahab Ghods and the IRGC
Kalantari described Mahab Ghods as the key player behind Iran’s water monopoly: “Mahab Ghods has been the decision-maker of the water mafia and the driving force behind shortages, dam construction, and water projects. It became a monopoly, taking nearly all water studies, subcontracting them, and keeping its share.”
He also criticized the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters and its subsidiary Sepasad: “These groups are contractors, and contractors are like undertakers—they take the plan and budget from someone else and just execute the project. But the problem is that they too have become monopolies, wiping out the private sector.”
A Network of Decision-Makers
Kalantari insisted that behind every major water policy stood contractors and consultants who prioritized their profits: “Our decision-makers have little expertise. They offer populist slogans about bringing water to this city or developing agriculture in that city. In reality, consultants and contractors shape the plans, pass them through the Ministry of Energy, and the minister pushes them to the government and parliament for approval.”
He added that powerful interests were also behind controversial projects such as transferring water from the Sea of Oman to central provinces and tapping deep groundwater: “There is certainly a contractor mafia behind these projects. Even though the world has rejected such schemes, they continue here.” A multilayered mafia, active in policymaking, exploitation, and project implementation, is the main cause of Iran’s water and energy crisis.
A Civilization at Risk
Iran’s water shortages, collapsing aquifers, and widespread land subsidence are not natural disasters but the result of decades of reckless policies, experts warn. With rivers drying up, wetlands destroyed, and agriculture threatened, many fear that unless fundamental reforms are made, Iran’s ancient civilization could face irreversible decline.
