A major city in the Middle East is teetering on the brink of a major water crisis that could force authorities to ration water, and potentially evacuate some neighbourhoods, if rainfall fails to arrive in the coming weeks. Key reservoirs supplying the urban area have dropped to alarmingly low levels, raising fears for millions of residents.

The city, Tehran, the capital of Iran, is home to over 10 million people. Its main reservoirs, including the Karaj Dam, are reportedly at just 8% capacity, with drought conditions now entering their sixth consecutive year. Officials have warned that without significant precipitation by December, even basic water supplies could be severely disrupted.

“If it doesn’t rain this month, we will have no water at all,” a local official said. Experts highlight that the crisis is driven by a combination of rapid urban growth, over-extraction of aquifers, and climate-driven heat and drought. The situation has become a near-worst-case water emergency, prompting urgent calls for contingency measures.

Growing Social and Economic Risks

Households and Industry Under Pressure

The impact of prolonged water shortages extends far beyond taps running dry. In Tehran, some neighbourhoods are already experiencing intermittent water supply, with pressure falling at certain times of day. Agriculture and industrial sectors, which rely heavily on water, are also facing severe disruption.

Extended shortages threaten urban livelihoods, food production, and sanitation, raising concerns that prolonged scarcity could become a social and economic crisis. Officials warn that if reservoirs reach critical levels, mandatory evacuation of the most affected districts could become necessary, though details on such operations remain unclear.

Why Cities Are at Risk

Climate, Infrastructure, and Rising Demand

Tehran’s looming water crisis, and warnings across Europe, stem from a combination of prolonged drought, hotter summers, and reduced rainfall, compounded by rapid population growth and increased urban water demand. Aging infrastructure, including reservoirs, dams, and aquifers, struggles to keep pace with rising consumption, leaving cities vulnerable when dry periods extend beyond normal patterns.

Southern Europe and Mediterranean regions, including Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, and Greece, face similar pressures. Even typically wet cities such as London are flagged for future water stress, highlighting that climate and demand challenges are now a global urban concern.

What Happens if Water Runs Out

Rationing, Cuts, and Broader Impacts

When water supplies reach critical lows, authorities may implement rationing or targeted shutoffs, affecting households, industry, and agriculture. In Tehran, some neighbourhoods already experience intermittent supply, and officials warn that evacuation of the hardest-hit districts could become necessary if reservoirs remain near empty.

The social and economic consequences extend beyond immediate shortages. Disrupted water access threatens sanitation, food production, and urban livelihoods, showing that water security is not only an environmental issue but a critical urban and economic concern.

Key Points

• Tehran faces a historic water crisis, with reservoirs at just 8% capacity, prompting warnings of rationing and possible evacuation.
• Climate change, prolonged drought, urban population growth, and over‑extraction of aquifers are driving crises in Tehran and beyond.
• Southern Europe and Mediterranean regions, including Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, and Greece, are experiencing growing water stress.
• UK, despite its rainy reputation, is at risk of severe water shortages within decades if preventative action is not taken.
• Aging infrastructure, rising demand, and irregular rainfall highlight the urgent need for sustainable water management.

Water Security Is Urban Security

Tehran’s crisis illustrates the urgent need for resilient water systems. European and UK authorities must invest in infrastructure, enforce sustainable consumption, and adopt climate-proof water management strategies. Otherwise, more cities may confront “Day Zero” scenarios once thought impossible.

The situation also highlights the importance of long-term planning, including rainfall capture, wastewater reuse, aquifer management, and public awareness campaigns. Without decisive action, even major cities with historically abundant water may face unprecedented shortages in the decades ahead.

Spain’s pension system enters a decisive year in 2026. Lawmakers have set the ordinary legal retirement age at 66 years and ten months for the whole of 2026, the final incremental step in the transition begun in 2013 toward a standard retirement age of 67. At the same time the government will start rolling out a new, gradual system for calculating pensions that will be phased in over 12 years.

Rather than a single measure, 2026 bundles several linked changes: the precise legal age adjustment, the start of the so-called “dual” calculation regime, increases in certain contribution surcharges and adjustments to top and minimum pensions. Taken together, the reforms are designed to shore up long-term sustainability while softening the immediate impact for those with extended contribution records.

What exactly changes in 2026

Age, contribution thresholds and the dual computation system

From January 1 next year the ordinary retirement age for claiming a full contributory pension without meeting the higher-contribution requirement will be 66 years and 10 months. Workers who have completed 38 years and three months of contributions will still be able to retire at 65 without penalty.

Crucially, 2026 is also the year that initiates the dual regime for the pension calculation period. Over a 12-year phasing, the system will move towards allowing retirees to choose between two calculation bases at the end of the transition. The long-term option will consider up to 29 years of career history (with a mechanism to discard a specified number of worst months), while the existing reference period remains the last 25 years. In 2026 the computation base will begin with 304 months (about 25.33 years) with transitional discard rules; the full choice between options will be available progressively up to 2037.

Other technical and financial changes for 2026

Contributions, caps and minimum pensions

The 2026 package also raises the surcharge known as the Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional (MEI) from 0.8% to 0.9%, apportioned 0.75% to employers and 0.15% to workers, with a roadmap towards 1.2% by 2029. A solidarity surcharge on higher salaries remains in place and will continue to rise gradually in the coming years.

The maximum contribution base will increase next year by a measure tied to inflation plus an adjustment, leaving it roughly 3.9% higher; that raises the upper monthly base to around €4,922. Minimum pensions and non-contributory pensions will be revalued above average inflation, with an additional adjustment designed to narrow the gap to the poverty threshold.

Rules affecting the initial maximum pension also change: the mechanism that updates top pensions will add a small annual cumulative increment intended to preserve purchasing power over the long term.

How this compares with the UK

Different structures, similar pressures

The United Kingdom is following a parallel path, though under a different model. The current UK State Pension age is 66 and is scheduled to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028, with further proposals already in place for a future increase to 68 during the 2030s.

The key difference lies in structure. Spain keeps a contribution-based exception, allowing retirement at 65 for those with long insurance careers, while the UK operates a flat age-based threshold with no equivalent early full-pension route linked to contribution years. UK workers must wait until they reach the statutory age regardless of how long they have paid National Insurance. Both countries are responding to the same pressures: longer life expectancy, falling birth rates and a shrinking ratio of workers to pensioners. However, Spain’s system is more finely tuned to contribution history, whereas the UK model is more rigid but administratively simpler.

What this means for British expats in Spain

Cross-border contributions and planning

British nationals who work legally in Spain pay into the Spanish Social Security system and are therefore subject to Spanish retirement rules, including the 2026 age of 66 years and 10 months.

For those with working histories in both countries, coordination rules allow aggregation of contribution periods made in Spain and the UK when assessing eligibility. This can help some expats reach the Spanish contribution threshold that permits retirement at 65.

However, the increase means some British workers in Spain may need to delay retirement beyond what they had originally planned. At the same time, their UK State Pension age will be increasing along a similar timeline, which could help synchronise income streams but requires careful tax and timing planning.

The essentials at a glance

• In 2026 the ordinary retirement age is 66 years and 10 months; the statutory 67-year threshold follows the transition.
• 65 remains available without penalty for those with 38 years and three months of contributions.
• A dual computation system begins phased rollout in 2026, expanding the periods used to calculate pensions.
• The MEI contribution rises to 0.9%, and targeted surcharges on higher salaries will increase progressively.
• Minimum pensions, maximum bases and other technical levers are adjusted to protect purchasing power and system viability.

A technical year with wide ramifications

2026 is more than a modest age bump: it launches a technical overhaul affecting how pensions are computed, how contributions finance the system and how benefits are updated. For workers, employers and expatriates, the changes reinforce the need for careful retirement planning and timely review of contribution histories as Spain locks in the final stage of a reform that will shape retirement for decades.

It sounds like something straight out of a blockbuster, but it’s very real – and it’s getting close. France could begin using drone swarms in military operations within the next two years, according to both army officials and defence specialists working on next-generation combat technology.

The news emerged from discussions in Paris, where Thales, the French defence firm heavily involved in drone warfare, confirmed that tests are now reaching a stage where deployment is becoming practical rather than theoretical.

“We’re right on the edge of making this work in real conditions,” said Eric Lenseigne, vice-president of drone warfare at Thales. “The building blocks are there. What matters now is moving from prototypes and trials to actual field use.”

How drone swarms would change warfare

Today, nearly every military drone still needs its own human pilot. That’s labour-intensive, slow, and limits how many drones can be deployed at once. Swarm technology flips that model on its head.

Instead of one pilot per drone, artificial intelligence allows whole groups of drones to move and react together, sharing information in real time. They can scout enemy positions, choose routes, avoid obstacles and even reassign leadership within the swarm if one unit is destroyed – all with minimal human control.

For the French Army, this matters because modern battlefields have become brutally dangerous. Colonel Philippe Bignon, who oversees advanced concepts at the Army’s Future Combat Laboratory, explained that areas near the front line are now so lethal that anything spotted moving can be hit within minutes.

“Swarms multiply effectiveness without multiplying risk,” he said. “You don’t need all the drones to reach their target – just a few can achieve the objective.”

France is already preparing for this future through the Pendragon project, which aims to combine air drones, ground robots and AI-driven command systems into the country’s first autonomous combat unit. A full demonstration is planned for 2026, with operational deployment hoped for the year after.

Lessons from Ukraine

Anyone following the war in Ukraine knows how central drones have become to modern fighting. Yet despite the headlines, true swarms still aren’t being used on a large scale.

“At the moment, what we mostly see are small groups of five or ten drones sent out together, but each still needs operators,” Lenseigne said. “It’s labour-heavy, and that’s what we want to evolve beyond.”

The Ukrainian battlefield shows just how crowded the skies have become – and just how difficult it is to manage so many individual aircraft. Swarm systems aim to relieve that pressure by letting AI handle coordination rather than relying on massive teams of pilots.

More than just attacking

Drone swarms wouldn’t be limited to combat strikes. Military planners see other roles emerging quickly.

One key task could be resupply missions, especially in high-risk zones where human convoys can’t operate safely. Small drones flying in coordinated groups could deliver ammunition, food or medical supplies to troops whose positions are otherwise impossible to reach.

Deception is another possibility. Swarms could create false targets or fake movements, confusing enemy defences while troops manoeuvre elsewhere.

There’s also a more sobering side. Bignon believes battlefields will become increasingly “robotised”, with zones where machines alone operate because conditions are too dangerous for humans. “We could see areas of combat where almost no people are present at all, only machines,” he warned.

The uncomfortable questions

Despite the technological excitement, there’s real unease about what this shift means.

“AI always raises ethical questions, and swarms are AI in action,” said Bignon. Decisions still have to be made by humans who accept legal and moral responsibility – even when machines execute them.

There’s also the psychological strain for soldiers on both sides. Facing an enemy made up of dozens or hundreds of autonomous machines removes any sense of human contact from warfare. Bignon compared it to the cold fear experienced in other “dehumanised” forms of combat.

The practical realities

For all the talk of AI and algorithms, some of the hardest challenges are very down-to-earth. Thousands of drones mean storage systems, charging infrastructure, transport logistics and battlefield maintenance have to be designed from scratch.

“People think software is the hardest part,” Lenseigne noted. “But moving, storing and powering hundreds or thousands of drones is brutally physical work.”

What the battlefield might soon look like

Experts believe the future battlefield could be split in two: a shrinking number of manned vehicles – expensive, complex and heavily protected – alongside vast numbers of unmanned drones operating together in swarms.

For France, the countdown has begun. If current trials progress as planned, the first operational swarms could be active within two years, with wider use following soon after.

Whether this technology becomes the next decisive military breakthrough or opens a new chapter of difficult ethical debate remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the age of drone swarms is no longer a distant concept – it’s almost at the doorstep of Europe’s armed forces.

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