Tehran not to compromise on Hirmand water right: Ghalibaf

The complete and accurate implementation of the agreement on the Hirmand conflict guarantees the mutual interests of Iran and Afghanistan, the Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in the parliament's open session on Sunday.

There will be no compromise on this vital issue, he stressed.

"I would like the Afghan authorities to respond constructively to the positive will of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this regard and to prevent the occurrence of a serious problem between two countries," Ghalibaf said, referring to the sufficient water reserves in Afghanistan.

Earlier on Friday,  President Raeisi warned the rulers in Afghanistan not to violate the water rights of the Iranians in the southeast country from Hirmand, stressing the government is determined to defend the nation’s rights wherever it is.

Iran and Afghanistan have been locked in a long-running dispute over shared water resources. At the heart of the dispute is the Hirmand River, also known as the Helmand River, which flows 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) south before flowing into Hamoun wetlands, located in Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The two countries signed a treaty in 1973, under which Iran is entitled to receive 820 million cubic meters of water from the river annually.

But the treaty was never implemented in full and negotiations never advanced, as Afghanistan plunged into decades of instability and various governments adopted different policies toward Iran.