In July 2020, the Tehran Times, citing broadcaster IRIB, reported that Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian had allocated up to 26 billion cubic meters of seawater for industrial use in coastal provinces such as Hormozgan, Sistan-Baluchestan and Bushehr. The water was mainly intended for projects without desalination, such as aquaculture or cooling towers of thermal power plants. Licenses for projects requiring desalination had been issued. Three parts of seawater yielded one part of fresh water, he said. Studies on desalinated water transfer inland required a consumption management plan.
The report showed that Iranian water policy at the time treated seawater as a resource in its own right for coastal industry, while tying inland transfers to managing consumption.
Source: Tehran Times