Iran has deployed a team of technical experts to take a tour of the Helmand River in neighboring Afghanistan to help tackle a standoff with the Taliban administration over the share of water.
A former Iranian diplomat believes that the Taliban administration in Afghanistan will not back down in a dispute over Iran’s water share from the Helmand river with negotiations, suggesting that the Islamic Republic has to consider non-diplomatic ways.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called for shedding light on the circumstances surrounding the Taliban killing of Iranian diplomats and a journalist in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan 25 years ago.
The Taliban sent thousands of troops and hundreds of suicide bombers to the area, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, claiming the group is prepared for war with Iran over a water dispute. Tehran has issued a warning to the Taliban, urging them to honor Afghanistan’s water-supply agreement or face the consequences.
The Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have shut down the offices of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, a major Iranian charitable organization, in the Afghan cities of Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat.
An Iranian lawmaker says Iran is studying “non-diplomatic” ways to restore its right to water shares from the Helmand River, which the Taliban government in Afghanistan is currently not allowing to be fulfilled.
An Iranian MP says a parliamentary delegation of the Islamic Republic is going to visit Afghanistan to pursue Iran’s right to the water of Helmand River.
The caretaker of Iran’s Embassy in Kabul says the Taliban have issued the permission for a team of Iranian experts to inspect the reservoir of the Kajaki dam, amid a water dispute between Iran and Afghanistan.
Iranian and Afghan media say Tehran and the interim Taliban government have reached an agreement on exchanging prisoners, and that four Iranian inmates have been released as per the deal.
Over 200 Iranian lawmakers have backed the government’s efforts to secure the country’s share of water from the Helmand River, warning of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Iran’s eastern regions if no water reaches there in three months.
Satellite images reveal how the interim government in Afghanistan is blocking the flow of Helmand River, a lifeline for residents of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province, into the other side of border, by building several dams on the river.
The Iranian deputy justice minister says the Islamic Republic is the top destination of around 63 percent of Afghan refugees fleeing a host of crises in their homeland.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Monday that the country's border areas with Afghanistan is tranquil following the recent skirmishes between Iranian border guards and Taliban forces.
Iran’s ex-ambassador to Afghanistan says the interim Taliban rulers are using shared water resources as well as the closure of Dogharoun border with Iran as lever against Tehran, calling for vigilance in the face of risks of fresh clashes with the Afghan side.
Iran closes the Milak border crossing with Afghanistan, a major trade route, “until further notice,” following an exchange of heavy gunfire between Iranian border guards and Taliban forces.
Two Iranian border guards have been killed in an exchange of fire with Afghanistan’s Taliban forces near a border post between the two countries, amid escalating tensions over Kabul’s violations of Tehran’s water rights.
Clashes have broken out between Iranian border guards and Afghanistan’s Taliban forces on the joint border between the two countries, media reports say.
An Iranian lawmaker and ex-envoy to Afghanistan says the southeastern border province of Sistan and Baluchestan will face numerous problems if the water shortages, caused by the Taliban’s blocking of Helmand River’s inflow, drag on for three more months.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says Tehran is discontent with the fact that an inclusive government has not been formed yet in Afghanistan, adding Iran will not recognize the current Taliban rulers of Afghanistan.
Iranian Vice President for Legal Affairs Mohammad Dehqan says Tehran would seek arbitration if negotiations over water rights fail with the Afghan Taliban.
Newly-released satellite images show a considerable amount of water at the two controversial dams built by Afghanistan on the Helmand River shared with Iran, contrary to the Taliban’s claims of water shortages there.
The Taliban defense ministry says Iran and Afghanistan concluded the talks between their military delegations with an emphasis on the international and border obligations of both sides in line with the interests of the two countries.
Iran’s Jomhouri Eslami newspaper, in an article, has slammed proponents of interaction with the Taliban in Afghanistan as a water dispute with the group escalates.