Editor TLN
May 28. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The head of the Iranian Army, Brigadier General Kiumars Heidari, has warned the Taliban this Sunday that he will not tolerate any more “misfortunes” between the border between the two countries, in reference to the clashes last Saturday, still under investigation, which resulted in the death of at least one Iranian soldier and one Taliban.
The general has traveled to the province of Sistan and Balochistan, the scene of the fighting on Saturday, to ensure that “the Iranian borders with Afghanistan are completely under the control of the Army’s ground forces and border guards,” according to statements collected by the Iranian news agency Mehr.
The general has assured that the Iranian forces stationed on the border have always acted in accordance with a “good neighbor policy” before warning the Taliban that “if the opposing party does not comply with the rules, they will find another confrontation.”
“Neighboring countries must know that a common border is a border of friendship and that we are not going to allow more misfortunes to happen,” he added.
The confrontation occurred at noon this Saturday in Makki, between Sistan and Balochistan and the Afghan province of Nimruz, and involved artillery and small arms fire from both sides for several hours. The area has been quiet for the last few hours.
The clashes coincided during a meeting of the Taliban Foreign Minister, Amir Jan Muttaqi, with the Iranian ambassador in Kabul, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, amid growing tensions between the two countries over water rights, specifically around the water of the Helmand river. , also known as Hirmand.
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.
Added to this are years of denunciations by the Afghan authorities, both Taliban and civilians, against the mistreatment of Afghan prisoners and refugees in Iran. Last year, it should be remembered, the Taliban filed a formal complaint with the Iranian government after the publication of a series of videos in which groups of Iranian youths appeared beating up refugees.
