Iran to Move Capital to Southern Coast
An Iranian government spokeswoman has announced that the country will move its capital to the southern coastal region of Makran. The relocation of the Iranian capital has been a longstanding debate within the country, with the government conducting six inquiries since 1989 into the feasibility of such a move.
The reasons for such a move include power outages in Tehran, which developed into a full-blown energy crisis late last year due to aging infrastructure, sanctions, and Israeli strikes. Other factors include overpopulation and water scarcity.
Another possible factors for the shift in capital could be for reasons of regime stability. The recent collapse of the Syrian Arab Republic, was caused in part by uprisings in and around the capital city of Damascus, which was far from the Assad regime’s coastal support base around Latakia. The Islamic Republic may wish a capital city more politically secure.
Security concerns might also contribute to the decision to move the capital, due to successful recent Israeli operations in Tehran. In July, Israel successfully assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, while Haniyeh was in Tehran for a presidential inauguration.
The announcement stated that the exact location of the new capital has yet to be determined. “The new capital will definitely be in the south, in the Makran region,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani stated on Tuesday. “This matter is currently being worked on.”
The announcement comes a week after Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that the capital should be moved toward the Persian Gulf for reasons of economic efficiency.
“Transporting raw materials from the south to the center, processing them, and then returning them south for export drains our competitive capacity,” Pezeshkian stated. “We must shift the country’s economic and political center to the south and closer to the sea.”
The move of building a new capital city is not unique to Iran. Egypt is currently developing a new capital city between Cairo and Sinai, which is provisionally called the “New Administrative Capital.”
Tehran was first made the capital of Iran by Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Qajar dynasty, in 1786. Beforehand, the Iranian capital was located in Shiraz, in central Iran.
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