In October 2018, the Tehran Times reported that Iran's Department of Environment (DOE) firmly rejected moving water from the Persian Gulf inland. Earlier, Bank Melli Iran board member Mahmoud Shayan had told Mehr news agency that nine banks had put about $428 million into a pipeline to Kerman, Yazd and Isfahan, with desalination facilities in place and completion expected in ten months. DOE deputy Masoud Tajrishi cited the warm, shallow and highly saline Gulf ecosystem. A transfer from the Sea of Oman was already underway.
The report showed the tension between water shortages in dry inland provinces and protecting a sensitive enclosed sea when desalination and long-distance pipelines were planned together.
Source: Tehran Times