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

Al-Monitor Pro Members

Dr. Bijan Khajehpour

Managing Partner, Eurasian Nexus Partners, Vienna, Austria

Oct. 16, 2023

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.