Iran’s foreign ministry today protested a project involving the construction of a dam by Afghanistan on the upper side of the Harirud River, on the grounds that it may reduce the flow of water and may constitute a violation of bilateral treaties.

Water rights have long been a point of friction in relations between the two countries, which share a border of more than 900 kilometers.

THE Esmail Bagaia spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, expressed “his strong protest and concern against the disproportionate restriction of water entering Iran» because of the Pasdan dam construction project.

Iranian concerns have been shared with the “competent Afghan authorities,” it added in a statement:Exploitation of water resources and basins cannot be done without respecting Iran’s rights, according to bilateral treaties».

THE Abdul Ghani Baradarthe Afghan government’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said in a December video that the Pashdan project “is being completed and water storage has begun.”

According to the video, the dam located in Herat province will store about 54 million cubic meters of water, irrigate 130,000 acres of agricultural land and generate two megawatts of electricity.

A few months earlier, Baradar had underlined that the dam was “vital and strategic work» for this province.

The Harirud River, also known by the names Hari and Tejen, flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, passing through Iran’s border with these two countries.

In his statement, Baghai stressed that Iran expects Afghanistan to cooperate so that “the flow of the waters of the border rivers” to continue and to “remove the obstacles that are created» on their way.

In May 2023, Iran issued a stern warning to Afghan officials regarding another dam project on the Helmand River, stressing that the project harms the water rights of residents of the impoverished province of Sistan-Baluchistan in southeastern Iran. , which was then plagued by drought.