Iran Warns Afghanistan to Respect its Water Rights over Helmand River

President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers not to violate water rights of the Iranian people over Helmand River, charging that an upstream river dam there is restricting water flows into Iran.

"I warn the rulers of Afghanistan to immediately give the people of Sistan and Baluchistan their water rights," Raisi said on May 18 during a visit to the drought-parched south-eastern Iranian province. 

“We will not allow the rights of our people to be violated,” he added, urging the Afghan Taliban to allow Iranian experts to check the water levels of Helmand River "straight away."

He cautioned that Afghanistan's rulers should take his words "seriously and not complain later."

Late on May 17, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called on Afghanistan side to "open the gates of the Kajaki Dam before the time is lost." 

The Helmand River flows into Lake Hamoun, which straddles the Afghanistan-Iran border. The lake used to be one of the world's largest wetlands, but it has dried up due to drought and the impact of Afghan dams and water controls, experts say.

Iranian officials say the country's share of waters was legally defined in the 1973 Helmand River Treaty between Tehran and Kabul, and demands that Afghanistan uphold the deal.

Afghanistan has blamed climatic factors for reduced river volumes.

Drought has worsened in Iran over the past decade, with the Iran Meteorological Organization saying that an estimated 97 percent of the country now faces some level of drought.