Iran's capital should be moved from Tehran toward the Persian Gulf, president says

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has reignited discussions about relocating the capital from Tehran to a coastal city, citing economic inefficiencies and regional disparities.

“One of the reasons that has led us to consider changing the capital is the imbalance between resources and expenditures in Tehran,” he said in a meeting with representatives from the central region of Semnan.

Tehran, home to over 9 million residents, has long struggled with overpopulation, traffic congestion, air pollution, and resource mismanagement. Pezeshkian argued that moving the capital closer to the Persian Gulf would streamline economic operations.

“Transporting raw materials from the south to the center, processing them, and then returning them south for export drains our competitive capacity. We must shift the country’s economic and political center to the south and closer to the sea,” he said.

Previous Iranian administrations have explored various iterations of the idea. However, financial constraints and political inertia have consistently stalled progress.

It gained traction during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mainly over concerns about Tehran’s vulnerability to earthquakes. President Hassan Rouhani revisited it in the mid-2010s, citing the city’s unsustainable growth and environmental challenges.

Relocating the capital would require massive investment and pose logistical challenges, while potentially harming Tehran’s economy. It seems unlikely, therefore, that Pezeshkian follows his remarks with actions that his predecessors avoided in less challenging times.