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The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy fire today, Saturday, on the borders of the Islamic Republic with Afghanistan, which led to an escalation of the escalating tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights.
And the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA) quoted the deputy commander of the Iranian police, General Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire on Saturday morning on the borders of Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimruz. IRNA said Iran had inflicted “heavy loss of life and great damage”.
🛑 Doha Taliban: We will occupy Tehran within days if Iran does not back down
– Sufian Samarrai (@SufianSamarrai) May 27, 2023
Halvash propaganda group, which reports on issues affecting the Baluch people in the Sunni-majority province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents of the region as saying that the fighting took place near the Kang district of Nimroz. She added that some people in the area had fled the violence.
Videos posted online, purportedly from the area, included the sounds of machine gun fire in the distance. Halfvash later posted a photo of what appeared to be the remains of a mortar shell, saying that “heavy weapons and mortar shells are being used.” A later video from Halvash allegedly shows Iranian forces firing a mortar.
“The border forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond decisively to any transgression or aggression on the borders, and the current Afghan authorities must be held accountable for their unmeasured actions that are contrary to international principles,” the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency quoted Iranian police commander General Ahmad Reza as saying.
The clash comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month warned the Taliban against violating Iran’s water rights to the Helmand River. Raisi’s remarks represent some of his strongest yet regarding long-standing concerns about water in Iran.
Drought has been a problem in Iran for about 30 years, but it has worsened over the past decade, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Iran’s Meteorological Organization says an estimated 97 percent of the country is now facing some level of drought.
The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 in the final weeks of the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from the country after 20 years of war.
Earlier on Saturday, the acting Taliban foreign minister, Amir Khan Mottaki, met with the Iranian envoy to Afghanistan to discuss the water rights of the Helmand River, according to tweets from Afghan Foreign Ministry official Zia Ahmed. IRNA acknowledged the meeting, saying, “The issues between the two countries will be better resolved through dialogue.”
But tensions were running high otherwise. Another video posted online in recent days allegedly showed a confrontation with Iranian forces and the Taliban as Iranian construction workers tried to cement the border between the two countries.
In recent days, pro-Taliban accounts on the Internet have also released a video with a song calling on the acting Minister of Defense, Mullah Mohammad Yaqub, to stand up to Iran. Mullah Yaqub is the son of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the late founder of the Taliban.
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