As the world marked International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2025, the spotlight fell sharply on Iran, a nation grappling with two crises of historic proportions: a staggering surge in state-sanctioned executions and an unprecedented water emergency threatening the very fabric of its society. These twin calamities, both deeply rooted in decades of policy and governance failures, are now converging to test the limits of Iranian resilience and the resolve of the international community.
According to data highlighted by Arab News and other outlets, nearly 1,932 executions have been carried out in Iran so far in 2025, a figure that experts say reflects a level of state terror rarely seen in modern history. These deaths are not random outcomes of criminal justice, but, as Ambassador Stephen Rapp, a former international prosecutor, put it, “calculated measures. They are acts of state terror to suppress dissent and to reassert control in the aftermath of two nationwide uprisings and the recent international conflict.”
This brutal crackdown has drawn urgent calls from human rights advocates and legal experts for concrete action. Former MEP Dorien Rookmaker did not mince words, stating, “It is safe to say, I believe, that the regime in Iran is the most atrocious, most vicious, most cruel regime in the world today. It’s 100% pure evil.” The echoes of past horrors are unmistakable. Dominique Attias, Chair of the Board of Directors of the European Lawyers Foundation, insisted that the world must not forget the 1988 massacre, when 30,000 political prisoners were executed. “This massacre constitutes both genocide and a crime against humanity. You must say it. If we don’t say it here, where will we say it?” she urged.
Yet, even as the regime seeks to instill fear—through public executions and the targeting of activists like 67-year-old engineer Zahra Tabari—the spirit of resistance endures. Struan Stevenson, chairing a recent meeting on the crisis, declared, “The epicenter remains in Tehran, and the only force capable of removing it is the Iranian people themselves.” Dr. Sina Dashti, offering a personal testament, described his family’s unwavering support for the democratic opposition: “My mother, when she left us forever, she was very proud that her children were supporters of the Mojahedin and asked us to take our support for this movement very seriously, since the people of Iran have no other hope and no other tool to achieve freedom.”
As the international community debates its next steps, pressure is mounting on the European Union to move beyond what critics call “moral cowardice.” Juan Fernando López Aguilar, a former Minister of Justice, argued that “Accountability to human rights should certainly be the number one priority of the role of the EU when going global.” The immediate demands are clear: impose a moratorium on executions, designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and condition all diplomatic relations on measurable human rights progress.
But the crisis in Iran is not merely a matter of political repression—it is also existential, as a spiraling water catastrophe threatens to render vast swathes of the country uninhabitable. Over the summer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unusual direct appeal to the Iranian people, promising that Israeli water technology would be available “once the regime is deposed.” The offer, reported by Arab News, was swiftly dismissed by Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian as “an illusion.” Still, it underscored the severity of the water crisis now gripping the nation.
Lake Urmia, once the largest lake in Iran and the Middle East’s biggest saltwater body, has almost completely dried up. Satellite images reveal that the ancient “turquoise jewel” has become a vast salt plain, fueling salt storms, ecosystem collapse, and serious public health risks. Yet, the most potent symbol of the emergency is now Tehran itself. As of early November, the capital’s dam reserves had plunged so low that Pezeshkian warned its 15 million residents could face water rationing or even evacuation if rains did not arrive by late November.
Despite a scant 3-4 millimeters of rain in early December, Tehran province remains an astonishing 97 percent below normal rainfall levels for this time of year. ERA5 data analyzed by Dr. Mojtaba Sadegh of Boise State University showed autumn precipitation at just 13.9 millimeters—compared to a historical peak of 257.6 millimeters in 1994. Many major reservoirs have dropped to single-digit capacity, and the effects are being felt not just in rural areas but in Iran’s richest and most politically influential city.
Experts say this is not a sudden twist of fate. “Iran has been suffering from a chronic water problem, what we call water bankruptcy, for a number of years,” Kaveh Madani, director of the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health, told Arab News. The roots of the crisis lie in decades of mismanagement, overreliance on engineering solutions, and reckless agricultural expansion. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has built roughly 600 dams—averaging about 20 new dams a year—turning it into one of the world’s most aggressive dam-building states. While framed as a solution to rising demand, this boom has devastated ecosystems and, critics argue, enriched a small circle of insiders, including the IRGC’s construction arm, Khatam Al-Anbiya.
The consequences are visible—and quite literally sinking in. The University of Leeds has identified 106 regions across Iran experiencing land subsidence, totaling about 12,120 square miles. In Tehran and surrounding areas, the ground is sinking by up to 31 centimeters a year, enough to damage infrastructure and raise the specter of evacuation. “Iran is literally sinking because of the water disaster. The ground is subsiding,” said independent Iran scholar Alireza Nader.
Compounding the crisis, agriculture—responsible for more than 90 percent of Iran’s water allocation in 2025—remains a key economic sector, employing about 14.8 percent of the workforce. Yet, instead of scaling back, the government plans to boost agricultural exports by 20-25 percent, a policy that experts warn will only deepen shortages. International sanctions have further complicated the picture, choking off access to expertise and technology needed to repair leaky infrastructure and modernize water governance.
So what’s next for Iran? Madani believes that “quick evacuation is not possible.” Instead, authorities may rely on temporary measures—extending weekends, closing schools and offices, or encouraging people to leave the city for short periods—to ease pressure on the system. But without systemic reform, the threat remains existential. If large areas become uninhabitable, Nader warned, “millions of Iranians could be forced to leave, leading to the collapse of Iran as a civilization and, eventually, of the regime itself.”
As the world watches, the message from human rights and environmental advocates is clear: the time for half-measures has passed. Only bold, coordinated action—both to address the regime’s abuses and to overhaul water management—can avert disaster and offer hope to the Iranian people. The stakes, for Iran and the broader region, have never been higher.
