Iran International
A conservative daily in Tehran has accused the Taliban of deliberately withholding water to pressure Iran, urging the government to use diplomatic, economic and other tools to punish the group.
"The Taliban are intentionally cutting water flows to Iran," the Jomhouri Eslami newspaper said earlier this week in an editorial titled "End Taliban’s Impudence", warning against what it called the inaction of Iranian officials in the face of the Taliban’s “hostile conduct.”
The newspaper described Afghanistan’s now officially inaugurated Pashdan Dam as the Taliban’s “second major water blow to Iran” after refusing to deliver Iran’s allotted share of the Helmand River (Hirmand in Persian) in recent years.
Satellite images in March showed that Afghanistan was diverting the water into its Gowd-i zerreh salt flat despite promises.
Afghan dams cutting Iran's water supply
According to Khorasan newspaper, the diversion of the Harirud River to fill the Pashdan Dam in Herat Province has led to the drying up of the Doosti Dam on the Iran–Turkmenistan border—the main drinking water source for Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city.
The 1973 Helmand River Treaty grants Iran an average flow of 26 cubic meters per second (around 820 million cubic meters annually), though drought conditions allow for reductions.
The Kamal Khan Dam, inaugurated in March 2021 under President Ashraf Ghani, fueled Iranian fears of reduced Helmand flows. Kabul framed the project as a sovereign right, while Tehran viewed it as a treaty violation.
The Helmand once sustained the Hamoun wetlands, Iran’s third-largest lake system. Prolonged droughts, damming, and contested releases have dried the wetlands, devastating Sistan-and-Baluchestan.
The construction of Pashdan Dam, the second Afghan dam affecting Iran, began before the Taliban retook Kabul. Seeking legitimacy through visible projects, the Taliban completed the dam and began impoundment in December 2024, with full inauguration announced a few days ago.
Criticism of Tehran’s 'concessions'
Jomhouri Eslami also accused successive Iranian governments, especially that of late President Ebrahim Raisi, of overlooking Taliban hostility while offering “political and economic concessions.”
“Out of fear of public opinion, they could not formally recognize the Taliban’s illegitimate rule in Afghanistan but still offered it all the privileges normally reserved for a recognized government,” the paper wrote.
The editorial charged that by remaining silent on water disputes, Iranian authorities have “encouraged the Taliban’s boldness.”
It said it is “not calling for harsh measures,” but urging political and economic pressure, alongside tighter control over unauthorized Afghan migrants, to restrain the group.
Iran-Taliban relations since 2021
When the Taliban retook Kabul in August 2021, Iran pursued a pragmatic policy: avoiding formal recognition but maintaining contacts to manage trade, refugees, border security, and above all, water.
During the Kamal Khan Dam’s inauguration in 2021, Ashraf Ghani suggested that Afghanistan might “trade water for oil.” Since then, Iranian media have suggested that the Taliban, too, is using water as a bargaining chip—pressuring Tehran to recognize its government.
In January 2025, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi became the first Iranian foreign minister in eight years to visit Kabul, seeking to address refugees, border tensions, and Helmand treaty obligations. The visit underscored how water disputes now dominate the bilateral agenda.
Jomhouri Eslami described Araghchi’s visit to Kabul as a “grave diplomatic mistake,” criticizing the government for ignoring what it suggested was deliberate desiccation of Mashhad’s primary water supply.
The government of President Masoud Pezeshkian has stepped up deportations of undocumented Afghans, with more than 1 million expelled since January. The Taliban have condemned the expulsions as violations of both international norms and Islamic principles.
However, the two sides have also engaged in pragmatic cooperation despite tensions. A recent report claimed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard got a leaked British Ministry of Defense database from the Taliban, hoping to use it to detain suspects as bargaining chips in nuclear talks while the Taliban seeks recognition as Afghanistan’s rulers.
The Telegraph reported on Thursday that the Taliban are transferring three Afghans suspected of spying for Britain to Iran. The move is part of the secret agreement between the two governments to coordinate arrests of Afghans who worked with British forces.
