the arid, salt-crusted lakeshore of Sharafkhaneh, a port that was once a draw for tourists. The imposing structure in the background,“Tal,” was once used to repair ships in the water.Iran's Lake Urmia was once the second-largest saltwater lake in the world, covering more than 2,000 square miles at its deepest in the 1990s. In the past two decades, the lake has dried out, shrinking at times to less than 20% of its average size. It's not a story of climate change, though that certainly contributed.
