Were US and UAE controlling rain over Iran? Conspiracy theory decoded by science
After unusual rainfall across parts of Iran, Iraq and Turkey, conspiracy theories have alleged that the United States and the United Arab Emirates were manipulating rain patterns, even “stealing” rainfall from Iran, through advanced technologies such as cloud seeding or secret weather systems.
Multiple social media accounts claimed that after Iran destroyed dozens of US and Israeli radars in the region, it is raining heavily. They supported the much-claimed alleged climate war against Iran.
But a closer look at the science and available evidence tells a very different story.
At the centre of these claims is cloud seeding, a real but often misunderstood technique. Countries like the UAE use it to enhance rainfall by dispersing particles into existing clouds. However, scientists are clear: its effects are limited, local and unpredictable. It cannot create clouds, redirect storms across borders or control regional weather systems.
More dramatic claims often invoke the HAARP, a US-based facility frequently cited in conspiracy theories. In reality, HAARP studies the upper atmosphere, mostly the ionosphere, while weather systems form much lower down in the troposphere.
Experts have repeatedly stated that it cannot influence rainfall or generate storms.
Iran has previously accused neighbouring countries of interfering with its rainfall, but experts say such claims often emerge during periods of environmental stress.
The science, however, remains unequivocal: no country today can control regional weather systems or redirect rainfall across borders.
As extreme weather events become more frequent, misinformation is likely to grow alongside them.
https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/science/st...2026-04-28
After unusual rainfall across parts of Iran, Iraq and Turkey, conspiracy theories have alleged that the United States and the United Arab Emirates were manipulating rain patterns, even “stealing” rainfall from Iran, through advanced technologies such as cloud seeding or secret weather systems.
Multiple social media accounts claimed that after Iran destroyed dozens of US and Israeli radars in the region, it is raining heavily. They supported the much-claimed alleged climate war against Iran.
But a closer look at the science and available evidence tells a very different story.
At the centre of these claims is cloud seeding, a real but often misunderstood technique. Countries like the UAE use it to enhance rainfall by dispersing particles into existing clouds. However, scientists are clear: its effects are limited, local and unpredictable. It cannot create clouds, redirect storms across borders or control regional weather systems.
More dramatic claims often invoke the HAARP, a US-based facility frequently cited in conspiracy theories. In reality, HAARP studies the upper atmosphere, mostly the ionosphere, while weather systems form much lower down in the troposphere.
Experts have repeatedly stated that it cannot influence rainfall or generate storms.
Iran has previously accused neighbouring countries of interfering with its rainfall, but experts say such claims often emerge during periods of environmental stress.
The science, however, remains unequivocal: no country today can control regional weather systems or redirect rainfall across borders.
As extreme weather events become more frequent, misinformation is likely to grow alongside them.
https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/science/st...2026-04-28
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
