Iran International:

Iran Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said using Persian Gulf water for Tehran could be done in an emergency as a last resort, since the long haul and treatment costs make the plan uneconomic in normal times.

Aliabadi said the price of sending desalinated water from the south to the capital was far above what the state could justify in day-to-day planning. “This is not an economic option,” he said, adding that officials “will do whatever is needed” if people’s safety is at risk.

He said Tehran’s water stress meant all workable options had to be reviewed but said some crops consumed water in ways that “do not make economic sense” and should not be supported.

Aliabadi said large desalination sites were being built in Chabahar, Bandar Abbas and Khuzestan to strengthen water supplies in the south and draw in private investment. If those plants ease pressure in the south, he said, water now moved upstream could instead be kept for Tehran and northern areas, though he said this needed detailed study.

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