Ensuring access to adequate and balanced food is a fundamental human right. However, in recent years, food insecurity has escalated globally, particularly in developing countries, driven largely by the increasing frequency of droughts. Without effective risk reduction strategies, human societies face the prospect of worsening conditions in the future. Therefore, drought and food security are multidimensional issues that encompass not only economic and social dimensions but also environmental factors, government policies, and psychological considerations. The limited focus on these interconnected dimensions in previous studies has reduced the effectiveness of research aimed at improving food security. This study aimed to assess the role of resilience capacity in improving the food security of rural households under drought conditions in Iran. A developed sustainable livelihood model, incorporating disaster perception (psychological capital), was employed as the theoretical framework. The statistical population of this study comprised all heads of rural households in Dezful County, located in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran. The sample size was determined to be 350, based on the Krejcie and Morgan table. To ensure accuracy in sample selection, a multistage cluster sampling method with proportional allocation was employed. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, whose validity was confirmed by expert review and reliability verified through Cronbach’s alpha. An examination of the food security status among the rural households studied revealed that 62.86 % were food insecure, indicating an unfavorable food security situation. This finding underscores the urgent need for targeted capacity-building interventions and enhanced resilience strategies to address the challenges posed by drought conditions. Ordinal logistic regression analysis identified financial, psychological, human, social, physical, and natural capitals as the key determinants of food security, ranked in order of their influence. These results bridge gaps in the existing literature and offer valuable insights for policymakers seeking to alleviate poverty and food insecurity in vulnerable communities.