In Explaining Iran’s Water Crisis, The Washington Post Leaves Readers out to Dry

By: David Gerstman December 2, 2025

In a recent report on Iran’s catastrophic water crisis (“Taps are running dry in Iran. Decades of bad decisions are to blame.” Nov. 25, 2025), The Washington Post laudably detailed many of Iran’s ruinous water management policies. However, the Post failed to address how Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and support for terrorism across the Middle East has contributed to its ongoing water emergency.

According to the Post, a historic lack of rain has combined with “decades of bad decisions” and policies to deplete “nearly all of the country’s precious water resources.” In particular, a counterproductive incentive structure led to massive unregulated drilling for water, creating an unsustainable drain on Iran’s aquifers. The Post noted that the situation has gotten so dire, that “the president even [floated] the idea of evacuating the capital.”

But The Post omits several critical factors that played significant roles in fueling the water crisis in Iran. The regime’s mismanagement of resources has left the Iranian people high and dry with decrepit, outdated, and inefficient water infrastructure. Instead of sufficiently investing in such infrastructure, Iran has diverted enormous amounts of resources toward its external adventures.

For example, The Post’s report mentions Iran’s nuclear program only in the context of sanctions and their effect on the economy. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reportedly said in 2021 that Iran had spent $1 trillion on its nuclear energy program. Instead of sustaining its population, Iran spent billions to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The article also doesn’t mention Iran’s extensive funding of foreign terror groups. A recent report at the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center estimates that Iran spends “$700 million [annually] to support terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Shi’ite militias in Iraq.” That figure is only growing. Already this year, Iran has reportedly transferred a billion dollars just to Hezbollah. Again, The Post omitted another instance where the Post ignored Iran’s prioritizing destruction over survival.

While The Post didn’t miss the chance to mention and implicitly criticize Israel over the war in Gaza, it did ignore directly relevant information that shines a positive light on the Jewish state. Prior to the Islamic Republic’s takeover of Iran, hundreds of Israeli experts and engineers helped Iran develop its water management infrastructure, technologies, and practices. As Seth Siegel recently recalled in The Wall Street Journal, “By the time the shah fell, Iran’s water systems were flourishing,” in no small part thanks to Israeli water engineers. But, as Siegel explained:

Soon after the Israelis left, the regime’s religious leadership largely outsourced water issues to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime’s ideological enforcers. The IRGC developed engineering and construction companies to handle Iran’s hydrological problems—enriching its leadership with billions of dollars.

These are no small omissions. Unknown billions have been siphoned away from the parched Iranian people and instead wasted on fueling violent fanatics abroad. The Post’s shoehorning criticism of Israel into its piece, while omitting the positive role played by Israel on the precise topic of the article, suggests these omissions were born out of anti-Israel bias.

Iran’s destructive and short-sighted water policies have played a role in this disaster. But its fanatical pursuit of nuclear weapons, regional instability and hatred of Israel have also contributed to the failures. Unfortunately, The Post only looked at Iran’s water policies, but at no external factors in explaining why Iran is drying out.

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