Iran Might Restore Ties If US Apologizes, Says Senior Lawmaker

A Taliban official appeared in a video holding a bucket at the edge of a reservoir and saying he wants to give water to Iran. He ridiculed the Iranian regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi who had earlier used threatening language. “I want to give water, so Iran’s president does not launch a military attack.” The video went viral on social media.

Iran's foreign ministry Friday “strongly refuted” Taliban’s claim over lack of enough water in the river Hirmand (Helmand in Afghan) due to draught to release Iran's share of the river’s waters.

The foreign ministry also said Taliban’s statement over the issue contained “contradictory and false information”.

Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said Friday that the government is determined to pursue Iran's water rights according to the Afghan-Iranian Water Treaty of March 1973 to regulate the use of the river.

The Taliban’s claim that there is not enough water to flow from Kajaki dam towards the Iranian border is not acceptable and is in contradiction to the experience of the past few years, he said.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also accused the Afghan government in a tweet Thursday of not allowing Iranian experts to investigate the matter in Afghanistan despite his repeated requests. “Proof of existence or lack of water is technical and actual visit [by experts], not a political statement [by the Taliban],” he wrote.

Spokesman of Iran's Aerospace Organization, Hossein Dalirian, said in a tweet Thursday that images from Iran's Khayyam satellite indicate that the government of Afghanistan has stopped the waters from reaching Iran by changing the course of the river in some areas and building “numerous” barriers.

The halt in the flow of water from Afghanistan has seriously affected the lives of hundreds of thousands in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

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While Afghanistan says it needs dams to store water for agriculture or to produce electricity, which it imports from neighboring countries including Iran, many environmentalists are critical of large-scale water engineering projects.

The Iranian government, and environmentalists, argue constructing the dam on Helmand River will deepen problems in Iran’s eastern provinces, particularly in Sistan-Baluchestan where water resources are scarce. Declining rainfall since late 1990s, which caused prolonged droughts in the Helmand basin, as well as water mismanagement both in Afghanistan and Iran, has had serious ecological, economic and social impact.

Wetlands in Sistan have largely turned into salt flats, the once rich wildlife has disappeared, and many local villages abandoned. In 2019, after nearly two decades of drought, water from Helmand reached the wetlands of Sistan and partially revived the Hamoun-e Hirmand Lake. The lake is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

The dispute between the two countries over water is long standing but it has escalated in the past few years.

In March 2021 in a televised speech inaugurating the Kamal Khan Dam in Nimroz province, former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that while Afghanistan remained committed to the treaty but added that "anything beyond the stipulated quota" required further discussion. He suggested that Iran should pay for ‘extra’ water from the Helmand River by providing oil to his country.

His remarks appeared to refer to Article V of the 1973 treaty, which stipulated Iran in "a normal water year" was entitled to a flow of 22 cubic meters per second from the 1,150km (700 mile) long river.

Hirmand rises in the Hindu Kush before flowing west into Iran and feeding an area of wetlands in the Sistan region including Hamoun Lake. Iran has not always received this amount – in 1999, for example, the Taliban turned off the flow completely.

President Ebrahim Raisi's special envoy for Afghan affairs, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, said Tuesday that Iran received 27 million cubic meters of water out of the 820 million cubic meters it was entitled to under the 1973 treaty.

Khamenei addressed foreign ministry officials and ambassadors at a time when his foreign policy of defying the West has become more controversial in Iran amid a serious economic crisis.

Khamenei set out to explain and clarify the principles and standards of “a successful foreign policy” focusing on three keywords: Honor, wisdom, and expediency.

A foreign policy based on supplication in words or in essence, and begging for favors from foreign powers is doomed, Khamenei said. He urged diplomats to respond to the words and actions of others reciprocally and “with honor.”

The 83-year-old authoritarian ruler also emphasized the need for wisdom in foreign policy. In a statement urging caution, he said that “uncalculated and dismissive” decisions and actions in the past have harmed the country.

Iranian officials and politicians, however, usually take their cue from Khamenei, especially in foreign policy matters. His past statements against regional countries such as Saudi Arabia, Israel, or the United States and Europe have led to more provocative statements by his underlings.

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But the Supreme Leader often speaks with double meanings, leaving room for himself to shirk responsibility if a certain policy proves to be a failure.

Khamenei used this tactic during nuclear negotiations a decade ago. While approving the policy of talks and compromise, he also warned that other nations could not be trusted, and a nuclear deal might prove to be disadvantageous.

He followed the same tact on Saturday, saying that the principle of using ‘wisdom’ also means not to unnecessarily trust what other countries say, although sometimes they are sincere. He has repeatedly said in the past that the United States and its allies cannot be trusted.

Khamenei in his speech used the Islamic concept of 'Taqiyya' to describe the regime's decision to accept the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal with the West. Taqiyya means the permissibility to deny or conceal one's real beliefs to secure a worthy goal.

Khamenei’s emphasis on “expediency” as the third principle in foreign policy was particularly notable, as he urged flexibility “in necessary instances” and circumventing “tough barriers” to continue a set course.

His mention of ‘flexibility’ was a reference to his famous phrase of “heroic flexibility” in 2013, when he signaled his permission for nuclear talks to begin.

“Of course, a few years ago when ‘heroic flexibility’ was mentioned, some abroad and in Iran had the wrong take on it. Expediency means finding ways to circumvent difficult obstacles and pursuing the same path,” Khamenei clarified.

In the context of Iran's nuclear program, this remark could mean that Khamenei justifies negotiations as a way of continuing to pursue the same goal by going around the opposition of other countries.

Commentators and many politicians in Iran have been increasingly calling for a flexible foreign policy and accommodation with the West, while the public knows that Khamenei makes all the key decisions.

With annual inflation reported to be near 70 percent and the Iranian currency losing half its value in the past year, with popular anti-regime protests and labor strikes, Khamenei finds himself in a tough position. However, so far, there is no indications of a foreign policy shift, except an agreement to restore diplomatic ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Khamenei in his speech urged his foreign policy establishment to work hard for improving ties with regional countries, blaming “the enemy for doing everything” to drive a wedge between Iran and its neighbors.

In Khamenei’s lexicon, ‘the enemy’ refers mainly to the United States and Israel and to a lesser extent to other US allies, including European powers.

London-based Iranian-British internet security expert and cyber espionage investigator Nariman Gharib released a list of contracts signed between the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and Chinese companies.

The secret document – which has no date and cannot be verified independently by Iran International -- contains a table of 10 contracts for various projects such as development of Iran’s landline network, infrastructure for fourth and fifth generation of broadband cellular networks and three satellite projects as well as production of smartphones and developing messenger services.

Feasibility studies for several of the projects have been carried out but some others are in the planning stages.

The project for the supply and operation of a geosynchronous telecommunication satellite is announced to be at $100 to $450 million for a 42-month project while another satellite project is valued at $300 million for a three-year project.

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The project for landline development is worth $220 million while the project for the modernization of Telecommunication Company of Iran, or TCI -- the country’s main mobile service provider -- is $325 million followed by the modernization of MTN Irancell -- another telecommunications company -- at $250 million.

Each company will get 1,500 5G sites and 3,000 LTE networks, according to the contracts.

China’s large-scale effort to control and censor the Internet has become a viable conceptual and technical model for authoritarian regimes, like Iran's Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic of Iran follows China’s lead in systematic oppression techniques.

China has combined legislative actions and technological enforcement to regulate the Internet domestically, calling it “The Great Firewall” of China.

Cybersecurity expert, Robert Potter, has said in a joint report, "China is known to be building a techno-surveillance authoritarian state domestically."

China’s second-largest telecom equipment maker, ZTE, sells to more than 500 carriers in more than 160 countries, 60 of which have questionable human rights records. In addition to selling services, China provides training programs that include subjects like ‘manipulating public opinion.’

According to a 2012 report by Reuters, China’s ZTE sold TCI a powerful surveillance system capable of monitoring landline, mobile and internet communications. The system was part of a 98.6-million-euro ($130.6 million) contract. Government-controlled TCI has a near monopoly on Iran’s landline telephone services and much of Iran’s internet traffic is required to flow through its network. The ZTE-TCI deal, signed in December 2010, illustrates how despite tightening global sanctions at the time, Iran still managed to obtain sophisticated technology, including systems that can be used to crack down on dissidents.

During a briefing at an annual security conference in Munich in 2020, United States’ officials warned that China will use Huawei’s presence in future communication networks to steal corporate secrets, censor content, and track dissidents. Critics of China say the rapid rise of these tech companies stems from the theft of intellectual property. Chinese tech giant Huawei has done business with North Korea, helped Iran spy on their citizens, and created ‘back doors’ for easier intellectual property theft.

As Washington stepped up pressure on the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, the US Justice Department accused Huawei Technologies in February 2020 of helping the Islamic Republic track anti-government protesters. In September 2021, Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou admitted helping Huawei conceal dealings with the Iranian regime.

Flowing 700 miles, the river – also known as Helmand – enters Iran's Hamoun wetlands in the Sistan-Baluchestan province after originating in the Hindu Kush Mountains near Kabul. Lake Hamoun used to be one of the world's largest wetlands, straddling 4,000 square kilometres (1,600 square miles) between Iran and Afghanistan.

The river constitutes more than 40% of Afghanistan’s surface water, according to water experts, and runs about 1,125km (700 miles) southwest from the Hindu Kush mountains into Iran. The River, which both Afghanistan and Iran depend on for agriculture and drinking water, has been their biggest source of tension for years.

Over the years, Iran has accused Afghanistan of restricting the flow of water from the river by building dams over it, a charge that Afghan authorities deny.

Speaking on Thursday on a visit to the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province – a deprived region where the water is desperately needed – President Ebrahim Raisi warned the Taliban: "Take my words seriously so that you don't complain later."Sistan-Baluchestan is the most deprived region of Iran.

"Afghanistan's rulers should allow our experts to come and check the truth of the matter. If our experts confirm a lack of water, we have nothing to say, otherwise we will not allow the rights of our people to be violated in any way," he added.

During his visit, Raisi also inaugurated a project to supply water from the Gulf of Oman to eastern cities of the country, including to more than 150 villages across the Sistan-Baluchestan province.

The new water supply project would take water from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman to the provinces of Sistan-Baluchistan, South Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan via a 1,700-kilometer pipeline.

It has been criticized by experts as another measure by the government that would aggravate the situation, with environmentalist Kaveh Madani describing it as detrimental to unique ecosystem of the Persian Gulf region.

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Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian recently said that the Afghan side has claimed the dam built over Hirmand does not have enough water.

Calling on Afghan authorities to let the water flow, he said, "Our clear request from the Afghan side is to open the gates of the Kajaki Dam before the time is lost," he said.

An agreement between Tehran and Kabul in 1973 stipulated that Afghanistan had to allow Iran an average of 556,000 acre-feet or 820 million cubic meters of water per year.Afghanistan must deliver water from the Helmand River to Iran at a rate of 22 cubic meters per second per annum (normal water year) with an additional four cubic meters per second for “goodwill and brotherly relations.”

Earlier in the month, the Iranian president's special envoy for Afghan affairs, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, only 27 million cubic meters of water reached Iran last year that is a small fraction of how much Iran is entitled to under the water-sharing treaty.

“The issue of the (1973) treaty is a legal issue, to which the Afghan government is committed and has declared its adherence. It must also implement the treaty,” he said.

Iranian Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian has also recently said that the government is taking "serious steps" to ensure proper implementation of the treaty, adding that Taliban authorities in Kabul are committed to the water-sharing treaty.

The previous Afghan government stopped the flow of water to Iran after inaugurating the Kamal Khan Dam, in Nimroz province in 2021.

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At the inauguration of the dam, ex-President Ashraf Ghani, pledged to stick by the 1973 agreement over Hirmand waters, saying that Kabul wanted to trade water for oil. “Afghanistan would no longer give free water to anyone, so Iran should provide fuel to Afghans in exchange for water,” he said.

In late July 2022, Amir-Abdollahian also warned his Taliban counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, that prohibiting Tehran from its rightful access to the Helmand River will only cause further strain to already tattered ties.

Afghanistan argues that complaints about improper allocation of water were made when the Helmand River Basin was under drought which severely reduced the river’s water flow, with Afghani pundits claiming that Iran had been receiving more water during normal and above-normal water years.

One way to solve the issue, as foreseen in the Helmand River Treaty in 1973, is that the two neighboring countries jointly determine places of delivery and construct joint hydrometric stations, regulating their water share more strictly.

In August 2022, Afghanistan and Iran agreed on a timeline for the construction of joint hydrometric stations, but such projects will take years to complete.

The Rasht-Astara link is seen as an important link in the corridor that will connect India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, and other countries by rail and by sea.

The 162 km railway along the Caspian Sea coast will go from Russian ports on the Baltic Sea to Iranian ports on the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.

Wednesday’s deal was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ebrhaim Raisi in a meeting on video link.

Putin said: "The unique North-South transport artery, of which the Rasht-Astara railway will become a part, will help to significantly diversify global traffic flows."

He claimed the “successful cooperation within the framework of this ambitious project is evidence of the high standards and the fruitful and mutually beneficial nature of Russia-Iran relations.”

Both Russia and Iran are giving priority attention to the strengthening of trade, economic and other bilateral ties, which are based on the principles of neighborliness, mutual respect and consideration for each other’s interests, said Putin.

Raisi said: "Without a doubt, this agreement is an important and strategic step in the direction of cooperation between Tehran and Moscow."

It comes as Western sanctions bite hard against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and against Iran over its nuclear programme. The two ostracised nations are increasingly cooperating, with Iran providing drones and other weapons for Russia as its fights in Ukraine.

The North-South route was originally signed by Russia, Iran, and India in the early 2000s, and since then other countries have ratified it, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Ukraine.