Tehran, April 15: Iran’s foreign minister says the Islamic Republic will pursue its share of Hirmand River’s water at the Afghan-Iranian border in the upcoming talks with Afghan officials.
Following his visit to the border town of Hirmand in Iran’s southern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, Ali Akbar Salehi stated that his deputy has been assigned to broach the issue of Iran’s share of Hirmand River’s water in a meeting with his Afghan counterpart within the next few days, IRNA reported on Thursday.
The Iranian foreign minister went on to say that the forthcoming talks are aimed at reviving Hamun Lake in Sistan-Baluchestan and to revitalize the regions’ agriculture, which is heavily dependent on the water from Hirmand River basin.
Salehi also placed heavy emphasis on the need to secure the irrefutable right of people of the province to savor their share of the water. He also noted that Iran and Afghanistan currently enjoy amicable and friendly ties as they maintain their high level of economic transactions.
In 1973, the two countries signed a treaty in which Afghanistan agreed to allow 26 cubic meters of water flow per second into Iranian territory.
Water from the river, known as Helmand in Afghanistan, rises from Hindu Kush mountain and flows into Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan, before reaching Sistan-Baluchestan in Iran.
The river water flow is vital to the existence of Iran’s eastern Hamoun Lake, which serves as a major economic resource for the country’s eastern province.
During the Taliban’s seven-year rule of Afghanistan, from 1994 to 2001, the water flow to Iran was halted. As a result, Lake Hamoun dried up, leading to the death of fauna and flora in the area.
——–Agencies