Drought stress represents one of the most important abiotic constraints to durum wheat production. The identification of genotypes carrying drought-related resistance traits and the mapping of the corresponding genomic regions are fundamental requirements to sustain the selection of new cultivars more adapted to semiarid conditions. Toward these aims a new genetic linkage map was constructed based on a cross between the local durum wheat local variety Zardak and the landrace 249 collected in the semiarid Kermanshah region (Iran). One hundred thirty single-seed descent derived F6 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) were evaluated in a drought stress (rainfed) and supplemental irrigation conditions to investigate QTLs of drought tolerance and its associated traits. A primary skeletal molecular map constructed using 71 SSR markers has been developed and it is currently under implementation with AFLP markers. The linkage analysis defined 15 linkage groups. Several QTLs were found for morphological (peduncle length, awn length and flag leaf length) and physiological traits (relative water loss and exited leaf water retention) under rainfed and supplemental irrigation conditions.