Iran’s President Warns Islamic Emirate to Take Water Issue Seriously

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said that the current Afghan government should ensure Iran's water rights of the Helmand River based on international treaties, Iranian media reported.

Addressing reporters during a visit to Sistan and Balouchestan province on Thursday, Raisi said the current Afghan authorities should "immediately" provide Iran with its share of water.

“I will remind the rulers of Afghanistan that they should not regard our demand as being ordinary and must take it very seriously,” Raisi said.

Rights to water from the Helmand River has recently become a contentious issue between Iran and Afghanistan.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called on the current Afghan government to open the floodgates of the Kajaki Dam so that both the people of Afghanistan and Sistan will have access to water.

Regarding the issue of water, acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi stressed that Afghanistan’s stance is based on the water treaty between the two countries, said Takal, the deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal.

Takal said the acting foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, held a telephone conversation with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, during which the two sides stressed the need for cooperation in the fields of commerce, energy, power, railways, the border, water and Afghan refugees in Iran.

“We have a water treaty of 1973 with the Iran Islamic Republic and we will be committed to it in the future as well,” said Matiullah Abid, a spokesman for the Ministry of Energy and Water.

The political analysts said that Afghanistan and Iran should solve the problem of Helmand water rights through diplomatic paths.

“To remove any kind of dispute and misunderstanding, it is better that the technical delegations from the two sides have their meetings through diplomatic paths and investigate the issue seriously,” said Hamidullah Yalani, former head of Water Management.

According to the 1973 treaty, Afghanistan is committed to sharing water from the Helmand River with Iran at the rate of 26 cubic meters of water per second, or 850 million cubic meters per annum.

(Tolo News)