In August 2021, the Tehran Times reported that desalination plants in southern Iran were supplying 600,000 cubic meters of drinking water to the coastal provinces. Hamidreza Kashfi, spokesman of the Water and Wastewater Company of Iran, told broadcaster IRIB the target was one million cubic meters under the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan. The government bought the water from investors through guaranteed purchase deals. Kashfi put production costs at one dollar per cubic meter, reduced to 70 cents in Iran as the equipment was now built domestically.
The report showed Iran's model at the time: privately financed plants, guaranteed state offtake and domestic manufacturing were meant to base drinking water supply on the southern coast on desalination.
Source: Tehran Times