Iran warns Taliban of consequences over dispute with Afghanistan over river water quotas

May 18. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned the Taliban on Thursday of possible consequences if the dispute over water quotas around the Helmand river is not resolved, amid an uptick in Tehran’s accusations against Kabul. for breaches of the agreements in this regard.

“I remind the rulers in Afghanistan that they should not consider our demand as something ordinary and that they should take it very seriously,” Raisi said, without the Taliban having ruled on the matter so far, as the Iranian news agency has reported. tasnim news.

Likewise, he has informed the population of the province of Sistan and Balochistan, where he is making an official visit, that the Iranian authorities are also working on a project for the transfer of water from the Sea of ​​Oman, although he has emphasized that it takes time to materialize it.

Iran and Afghanistan have been locked in a dispute over the water of the Helmand River, also known as the Hirmand, which rises in the Hindu Kush mountains near Kabul and flows more than 1,100 kilometers to the southwest, emptying into a lake in the common border.

Iranian authorities have for years accused Afghanistan of limiting the flow of water through the construction of dams and have argued that this violates a 1973 agreement in which Kabul committed to an average of 820 million metric tons of water flowing in Iran.

Several Iranian parliamentarians have recently demanded that Raisi transfer this situation to the Afghan authorities, after which the president stressed on Monday that the matter is “important” and that it will be addressed “seriously” with the Taliban, who took over the power in Afghanistan in August 2021.