TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian authorities have launched cloud-seeding operations to induce rainfall as the country faces its worst drought in decades, state media reported.

“Today, a cloud-seeding flight was conducted in the Urmia Lake basin for the first time in the current water year,” which began in September, the official IRNA news agency said late Saturday.

Urmia, in the northwest, is Iran’s largest lake, but has largely dried out and turned into a vast salt bed due to drought.

IRNA added that further operations would be carried out in the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan.

Cloud seeding involves spraying particles such as silver iodide and salt into clouds from aircraft to trigger rain.

Last year, Iran announced it had developed its own technology for the practice.

On Saturday, IRNA reported that rain had fallen in Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan and Lorestan in the west, as well as in the northwestern West........

© The Times of Israel