Azernews.Az

Tehran's days as the Iranian capital may be numbered after a powerful government body approved a plan for a new principal city in an attempt to protect residents from a dangerous earthquake, reports say. Seismologists have warned that Tehran is liable to be struck by a catastrophic earthquake in the foreseeable future.
In a move aimed at avoiding mass casualties from the natural disaster, the idea of relocating the capital was proposed by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and rubber-stamped by the expediency council.
It is not clear whether a new capital will be built from a scratch or based in an existing city, the Guardian reports. Some sources say it is to be constructed in an area between the towns of Gum and Delijan which has not seen quakes for over two millennia.
Iran has had numerous capitals during its history, including Isfahan, Qazvin, Shiraz, Mashhad and Hamedan. Since the Qajar king Agha Mohammad Khan declared it capital in 1795, Tehran has become the country's political, social, economic and cultural center.
The city is home to 12 million people, up from 250,000 at the start of the 20th century.
Most recently, Tehran was the center of mass street protests triggered by the re-election of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which opponents insist was achieved through fraud.
Plans for a new capital were first drawn up 20 years ago, but officials only gave them serious consideration after the 2003 earthquake that devastated the south-eastern city of Bam and killed an estimated 40,000 people. Experts warn that Tehran sits on at least 100 faultlines and that many of its buildings would not survive a major quake.*