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Agriculture, business interests will continue to weigh on Iran’s water sector

A picture shows a view of the dried-up bed of the al-Kalal River in the city of Badrah, near the Iran border, on August 28, 2023. Iraq's drought reflects a decline in the level of waterways due to the lack of rain and lower flows from upstream neighboring countries Iran and Turkey.
To:

Al-Monitor Pro Members

From:

Dr. Bijan Khajehpour

Managing Partner, Eurasian Nexus Partners, Vienna, Austria

Date:

Oct. 16, 2023

Bottom Line:

During a trip to Isfahan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated on Sep. 29 the second phase of the controversial mega project to transfer water from the Gulf of Oman to Isfahan province. The endeavor underscores the importance of improving the water sector in Iran, a water scarce country, but Tehran has opted for remedies that will cause massive environmental damage—that is, water desalination and conveyance projects to transfer water from the southern regions to water-stressed central provinces. What Iran needs, however, is to improve water utilization efficiency in the agricultural sector. The overriding issue is whether improved regional and foreign relations can positively impact the trajectory of Iran’s environmentally irresponsible water conveyance projects.