Restricting Tehran’s growth and water use — however politically difficult — would be more prudent than trying to engineer ever more elaborate workarounds.

Restricting Tehran’s growth and water use — however politically difficult — would be more prudent than trying to engineer ever more elaborate workarounds.

Amid sky-high inflation, water and energy cuts and prospects for a deal with the U. S. dimming, President Masoud Pezeshkian has apparently thrown up his hands.

© Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times