Taliban should ensure Iran's water rights based on international treaties: Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi

Tehran [Iran], May 20 : Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has said the Taliban should ensure Iran's water rights of the Helmand River based on international treaties, Tolo News reported citing Iranian media.

Raisi while addressing reporters during a visit to Sistan and Balouchestan province on Thursday, said the Taliban should "immediately" provide Iran with its share of water.

"I will remind the rulers of Afghanistan that they should not regard our demand as being ordinary and must take it very seriously," Raisi said, according to Tolo News.

Rights to water from the Helmand River have recently become a contentious issue between Iran and Afghanistan.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called on the Taliban to open the floodgates of the Kajaki Dam so that both the people of Afghanistan and Sistan will have access to water.

Regarding the water issue, Taliban acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi stressed that Afghanistan's stance is based on the water treaty between the two countries.

"We have a water treaty of 1973 with the Iran Islamic Republic and we will be committed to it in the future as well," said Matiullah Abid, a spokesman for the Ministry of Energy and Water, as quoted by Tolo News.

Political analysts said that Afghanistan and Iran should solve the problem of Helmand water rights through diplomatic paths.

Hamidullah Yalani, former head of Water Management, said: "To remove any kind of dispute and misunderstanding, it is better that the technical delegations from the two sides have their meetings through diplomatic paths and investigate the issue seriously."

According to the 1973 treaty, Afghanistan is committed to sharing water from the Helmand River with Iran at the rate of 26 cubic meters of water per second, or 850 million cubic meters per annum.