Iran blames Taliban for ’repeated’ border clashes
Iran’s deputy police chief Brigadier General Qassem Rezaei called a recent deadly shooting by Taliban forces at the border unnecessary, saying that the current Afghanistan rulers have repeatedly made mistakes at the border.
Rezaei said that two Iranian border guards were killed and two others wounded after Taliban forces opened fire on Iran’s Sasoli border police station around 10 a.m. in the southeastern city of Zabol.
Rezaei, who traveled to Sistan and Baluchestan Province on Sunday, said there was evidence showing the Taliban forces started the clashes. Despite being warned by the Iranian side about the continuation of shooting, the Taliban forces continued to fire at the police station, Rezaei said.
Iranian forces responded by firing at the Taliban forces, killing one of them and wounding several others.
He said that situation is now calm at the border and no incident has occurred since then.
Commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Force Brigadier General Kioumars Heidari, who was accompanying Rezaei during the visit to Zabol, said Iran will change its approach if Afghanistan fails to respect international regulations and the principles of good neighborliness.
“If the neighboring state respects international border regulations, we will observe [the principles of] good neighborliness in return and display mutual respect,” General Heidari said.
The commander stressed that border areas with Afghanistan are under complete control of the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces.
Chief of the Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran Brigadier General Ahmadreza Radan has ordered the border forces to decisively defend the country’s borders, and not to allow anyone to trespass and approach the borders. He underlined that Iran will decisively respond to any aggression towards its borders.
Radan added that the current rulers of Afghanistan must be held accountable for their ill-considered actions that are in violation of international principles.
Clashes between Iranian and Taliban forces came amid soaring tensions between the two sides over Iran’s water rights from the Hirmand River (known as Helmand in Afghanistan).
Iran and Afghanistan have been locked in a long-running dispute over their shared water resources. At the heart of the dispute is the Hirmand River, which flows 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) south, before flowing into the Hamoun wetlands, located in Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
Following more than a century of rifts over Hirmand’s water supply, Iran and Afghanistan signed a treaty in 1973 to establish a means of regulating each country’s use of the river.
Iran should receive an annual share of 820 million cubic meters from Hirmand under the accord, which Afghanistan has grossly violated in letter and spirit, endangering the lives of many Iranians who rely on the Hamoun wetlands for drinking water, agriculture, and fishing.