Fact Check: Are Downpours in Iran Tied to Damaged US Radar Systems?

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The claim of weather modification by the United States and Israel as a weapon of war in Iran is circulating on Instagram [archive], Facebook, and TikTok. The content alleges that Iran is drenched in downpours after 12 US and Israeli radars were destroyed.

The post features a video showing heavy rain in Iran since late April 2026, claimed to be a rare occurrence after decades. "After Iran destroyed dozens of US and Israeli radars in the region, it began to rain heavily and continuously. It hasn't rained this heavily in decades," the circulating narrative reads.

However, was the heavy rain really caused by damage to US and Israeli radar infrastructure?

FACT CHECK

Tempo verified this content through credible news searches and interviews with climate researchers and weather modification operations. Heavy rain and snow did hit several provinces in Iran, but they were not related to damage to US and Israeli radars. This phenomenon is a result of climate change.

Cause of Heavy Rain in Iran

Anadolu Agency reported that 12 US radar systems were damaged in Iranian attacks, but this news was not related to why Iran has been seeing heavy downpours. Iran's Tasnim news agency stated that the radars were not the cause of the weather change.

Iran's meteorological authority explained that radar is only capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves from detected objects. Neither military nor weather radar has the ability to alter climate change, including rainfall. "Climate change requires greater capabilities that military radars do not possess," the local meteorological authority wrote.

The Iran Meteorological Organization also responded to the issue of the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) impact. They considered the claim false because HAARP studies the ionosphere, while rain cloud formation occurs in the troposphere.

Similar projects like EISCAT, implemented in several European countries, including Norway, Finland, and Sweden, also aim to influence the ionosphere. "This program has resulted in limited ionization without any climate change effects."

The independent media outlet Iran Focus reported that increased rainfall this year had been predicted since early February 2026, before the attacks. Droughts in Iran have been triggered by declining water supplies due to waste and excessive groundwater extraction.

Climate Anomalies

Data from Statebase.org, a World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal, shows that annual rainfall in Iran fluctuates and tends to decrease. In comparison, drought levels have increased in recent years.

The worst conditions occurred in 2021, with an average rainfall of 128.5 mm per day. This figure then climbed to 235.19 mm between 2022 and 2024.

The Director of Weather Modification Operations at the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Budi Harsoyo, stated that Iran and countries in the Persian Gulf region have arid to semi-arid climates. The main characteristics are low rainfall, extreme heat, and high evaporation rates.

The Zagros and Elburz Mountains in Iran also create a rain shadow effect that makes inland areas extremely dry. Budi believes climate change cannot be ruled out as a cause of the drought.

"With such geomorphological and geographical conditions, it cannot be attributed to weather modification," Budi told Tempo on Monday, May 11, 2026.

He added that the effects of weather modification only last a short time, from a few hours to a few days. Current weather engineering methods are not capable of influencing weather conditions for years.

Origins of the Claim

Some Facebook accounts attribute the claim to Dr. Fatima Saad Al-Hasani, a researcher at the University of Oregon in the US. However, the researcher's name was actually impersonated by the Sprinter Press Agency account on April 26, 2026.

The account, which mimics the format of mass media, has no website, is suspected of being run by someone from Russia, and has been proven to have spread false information about a Hungarian politician that Lead Story denied.

Tempo investigated the name, but found no credible sources stating that the researcher had ever discussed the drought in Iran. Brazilian fact-checker Boatos.org also stated that the university's website never mentioned the researcher's name.

CONCLUSION

Tempo's verification concluded that the narrative that  Iran downpours at the end of April 2026 are linked to the destruction of several US radars in the Persian Gulf area is misleading.

TEMPO FACT-CHECK TEAM

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