Welcome back to the MBN Iran Briefing. Happy Thanksgiving!
Too little rain, too much rain, fires in an ancient forest and dangerous air in Tehran: this week, Iran is buffeted by the elements.
In this Briefing, we’ll look at the extremes affecting millions of Iranians and hear about Iran’s relations with the rest of the world. We’ll pop by a festival of ‘modest fashion,’ find out why you soon might not see books printed in Iran, and learn why some Americans forego turkey on Thanksgiving in favor of crab or venison.
This is a new offering from the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the Arabic-first media platform for and about the region. You can reach me at ailves@mbn-news.com. If you were forwarded the newsletter, please subscribe. Read me in Arabic here.
Quote of the week:
“Hourly surveys showed that Tehran was ranked the fourth most polluted major city in the world on Saturday afternoon.”
Iran this week
Biblical Days
The band Earth, Wind & Fire was a defining force in 20th-century American music, mixing funk, soul, jazz and cosmic imagery. Their 1976 track Earth, Wind & Fire turned the elements into questions of balance and survival.
This past week, Iranians continued to be battered by the elements. The drought is deepening. Air pollution is savaging the capital. Floods are striking new regions of the country, and fires are wreaking havoc on a famous ancient forest.
Water crisis comes home
Recent editions of the MBN Iran Briefing tracked Tehran’s transition from anticipation to adaptation, as officials forecast drops in water pressure and residents prepared for uncertain supply. This past week marked a new phase. Scheduled evening water shutoffs have now become routine in Tehran’s central and western districts. The disruption of daily life and hygiene has intensified. Social media is abuzz with images of crowds jostling for bottled water, retail shops shuttered by sanitation worries, and homes waiting on empty taps. According to one site, “Now, Mahnaz, a 48-year-old woman with obsessive-compulsive disorder, says: ‘We didn’t have the space to put a new water tank in our house, nor did it make sense to spend such a lot. As a result, we collected cans, soda bottles, and every bottle that could be turned into a water tank and filled it with water’.”
As water scarcity upends daily life, a wave of “water poaching” has hit the capital. Police are investigating as thieves tap municipal pipes, steal from tanker trucks, and further strain neighborhoods. In some places, the hiss of air is all that comes out of the faucet.
The crisis hasn’t gone unnoticed by international media. Monday’s Washington Post had this headline: “Taps are running dry in Iran. Decades of bad decisions are to blame.”
The city is rapidly building 100,000-liter emergency reservoirs, with six already completed in central Tehran’s district 11 to support hospitals and those most at risk. The district’s mayor says that in a crisis situation, they’ll be able to provide three liters of drinking water a day to each citizen for three days from these tanks.
No word on what happens after three days.
People wearing masks walk on a street following the increase in air pollution in Tehran, Iran, November 22, 2025 / Reuters
The air is no better
Meanwhile, Tehran’s air is growing dangerous. On Saturday, the capital’s air quality index surged past 200, pushing the city into the “very unhealthy” range and making Tehran the fourth most polluted city in the world. One website describes “particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause serious respiratory and heart problems,” noting that “this condition is extremely dangerous for children, the elderly, heart and respiratory patients, pregnant women, and people who do daily activities outside the home.” It noted the following expert recommendations for current conditions:
- Reduce time spent outdoors
- Keep the windows closed
- If it is necessary to leave the house, use a standard mask.
- Use air purifiers at home
And the director general of environmental protection of Tehran province announced that “all schools, kindergartens, preschools, and special schools in Tehran Province will be closed, and other educational levels, including high schools and universities, will take place online.”
Why is this happening? Seems Tehran’s surge in air pollution can be blamed on a perfect storm of heavy traffic, widespread use of dirty fuels in power plants and factories, stagnant weather, and the persistent drought. The lack of rain means that dust and pollutants are lingering over the city instead of being washed away.
Meanwhile, restrictions on traffic and trucks are slowing the response for water delivery. This in turn compounds the risks for the most exposed segments of the population. The weather doesn’t help. Check out this quote from the WeatherandClimate website: “Monthly mean temperature normal for November: 11.8°C. Monthly mean temperature in this month: 14.9°C. Departure of temperature from normal: +2.5°C. Precipitation normal for November: 31 mm. Precipitation total in this month: 0 mm. This amount is 0% from normal.”
November’s abnormal warmth has been hastening the evaporation of what little water there is, leaving reservoirs more vulnerable and pushing an already stressed infrastructure to its limits. The website of the Iranian Student News Agency summarized the problem in its headline: “Tehran’s temperature rises and 20% of water resources evaporate.”
When it doesn’t rain, it pours
If Tehran’s crisis is defined by scarcity, large parts of western Iran face too much water, too fast. Flash floods (check out this video) crashed through cities on the Iraqi border after days of downpour following months of drought. In one city, dozens of homes were damaged and families displaced. Streets became rivers, and emergency workers rushed to evacuate residents and provide shelter. The media covered scenes of swamped cars submerged, washed-away roads, and overflowing riverbanks. Authorities explained that parched soil made the floods more severe, unable to absorb the sudden rainfall.
The Red Crescent, government teams, and local volunteers are still working through the aftermath, supply tents and essentials as further rain is forecast. As one website noted, “Iran is the sixth most earthquake-prone country and the fourth most flood-prone country in the world.”
And lastly the fires
Iran’s Hyrcanian forests, among the oldest on earth, are estimated to be between 25 and 50 million years old and are on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
And now they are ablaze.
Soaring temperatures and prolonged drought, combined with suspected human carelessness, ignited blazes that local fire crews have struggled for days to control. Much of the fire has now been contained, and operations with helicopters and water-bombing planes (including Turkish help) are ongoing. Images of blackened trees and smoke-choked air have flooded the internet and social networks.
Earth, wind & fire indeed.
Iran and the World
‘These are not people who are rallying around the flag’
Check out the riveting discussion about a recent trip to Iran by two veteran Economist journalists, who had an English-language interview with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and got away from their minders long enough to pick up the current mood of people in Tehran. Some key takeaways? In the words of Economist Middle East correspondent Nicolas Pelham, the regime has paid a great price for its foreign policy: “It’s lost so much ground over the last 40 years. It could have been a major regional power with economic influence and clout across the region, and it hasn’t managed to do that.” Recalling more private conversations with Iranians on the street in the capital, Digital Editor Adam Roberts said, “they were angry about inflation, they were angry about lack of electricity. They were furious about the repression. So these are not people who are rallying around the flag.” Economist Deputy Editor Edward Carr concludes that the U.S. and Iran are “both big, powerful countries” with an inherent “common interest in making the Middle East more stable.” Finally Pelham describes a visit to the former U.S. embassy in Tehran, where he asked the Iranian tour guide if he thought that Trump might one day visit — or perhaps even build towers in Tehran. The “expression on [the tour guide’s] face was yeah, many would be delighted.”
Tehran gets closer to Moscow
Russia didn’t come to Iran’s aid during the Israeli and U.S. bombing in June, to Tehran’s disappointment, but nonetheless Iran is now actively looking to deepen ties with Russia. Iran signed a deal for 48 Su-35 fighter jets, began accepting regular Russian military flights from Irkutsk — suggesting that Russia is now actively delivering advanced military equipment or technology to Iran in defiance of international sanctions — and pushed forward an ambitious $25 billion contract for the Hormuz Nuclear Power Plant, with talk of up to eight new reactors. Why? Nikita Smagin, in an analysis published published Friday in the Carnegie Endowment’s digital publication Carnegie Politika, says Iran views the Russian investment and relationship as a form of insurance. Moscow is also helping design smaller-scale nuclear plants, and Russian firms are favored for the Rasht-Astara railway, a still-unfinished rail link connecting northern Iran to Azerbaijan as part of a Russia-Iran trade corridor and a critical link in trade routes to the Indian Ocean. Construction will likely start in a few months’ time. Tehran boasts about Russian investment as EU trade shrinks and sanctions bite. According to Smagin, Iranian officials view Russian-built infrastructure, including railways, power plants, and oilfields, as “safe zones” to deter future Israeli or U.S. strikes. Russia is moving drone production home, cutting reliance on Iranian supply chains, and sees trade with Iran as less vital than deals with Turkey or Egypt. There’s an imbalance of power: Iran needs Russia, but Russia is playing the field. As Smagin writes: “While Iran’s interest in cooperation with Russia is only growing, the Kremlin’s need for Tehran is increasingly in doubt.”
FOUR BY FOUR
In this section, I share some of the most eye-catching stories from different Persian-language outlets in the past week.
Iranians are serious about books. Your cab driver might be clutching a pocket edition of Hafez, the 14th-century poet whose verses are invoked for everything from fortune-telling at family gatherings to protests scribbled on walls. Parents stretch budgets to buy textbooks. Students brave censorship to snag underground novels banned by the regime. Giving poetry books at the Persian Nowruz new year celebration is a cherished tradition.
Now Iran’s publishing sector is facing a dramatic surge in paper prices, with costs climbing 20 to 40 percent in recent weeks due to currency instability and global market shocks. Printers and publishers are reporting canceled shipments, shrinking print runs, and are warning that some school textbooks will become unaffordable. Bookshops say clients have switched to digital formats. Small presses are freezing new releases entirely. The crisis has also driven up the price of ink and bookbinding. Industry insiders warn that, unless the rial stabilizes, independent publishing may not survive.
Photo credit: Mehr News
Festival of modest fashion
Milan Fashion Week is hosted by the National Chamber of Italian Fashion at such venues as Milan’s Palazzo Reale, Teatro Armani space, La Scala. Paris Fashion Week is hosted by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, at such venues as Le Grand Palais, Louvre courtyard, Musée Rodin.
Should you find yourself in Tehran the second week of December, you will surely want to catch the “Jasmine Gem” festival of “modest fashion,” hosted by the General Directorate of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Tehran Province. The venue? The exhibition hall of the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents. It’s touted as a “good opportunity to promote and institutionalize the authentic culture of hijab and chastity in society.”
Imprisoned for converting to Christianity
The Human Rights News Agency reported on Sunday that an Afghan living in Iran has been sent to prison for converting to Christianity. This follows on the arrest and imprisonment of two other Christian converts a couple of weeks ago and of yet another a couple of weeks before them. Charges range from “forming and being a member of a group or group with the aim of disrupting the security of the country” to “educational and propaganda activities that are contrary to and disruptive of Islamic law, with ties to foreign countries” to illegal distribution of books related to Christianity, attendance at virtual universities abroad to complete studies, training in the field of evangelization and promotion of Christianity, and publication of a caricature of the Leader of the Islamic Republic in cyberspace.
Thanksgiving explained
Iranian media has not shied away from explaining Thanksgiving to readers. The Young Journalists Club site, affiliated with the Iranian state broadcaster, explains the customs of the American holiday. We learn that “it is customary for those present at the table to pick up the remaining bones of the turkey after finishing their meal and, breaking them in their hands, whisper great wishes for the year ahead. Then they get up from the table, put on pajamas and comfortable clothes, and play games, watch fun movies, and take souvenir photos until the morning.” Beytoote, a web portal akin to Yahoo, describes the Macy’s Parade, with “floating, colorful balloons filled with the light gas helium, which are guided by strings held by parade participants” and “often features floats of popular cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, or Sonic, or sports characters.” But, of course “don’t forget that there are many people who don’t like turkey, so they replace it with other foods like crab or venison.” Bon appétit!
