Iran announces upcoming joint naval drill in Caspian Sea
Iran said on Tuesday it would soon stage a joint naval exercise in the Caspian Sea with the other four littoral states, saying the sea was off-limits to outside powers.
Iran said on Tuesday it would soon stage a joint naval exercise in the Caspian Sea with the other four littoral states, saying the sea was off-limits to outside powers.
“The Caspian Sea belongs only to its five coastal states – Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan – and they will resolve related issues themselves,” navy commander Shahram Irani said at a gathering of naval chiefs in St. Petersburg.
Irani said the littoral states had developed “very good relations” in security, economic and environmental fields and had the capability to ensure stability without foreign involvement. “There is no place in the Caspian Sea for extra-regional powers,” he said.
He said a recent joint exercise in Iran’s Bandar Anzali and along the southern Caspian coast had strengthened cooperation, and that another drill would be held soon.
Iran maintains two distinct naval forces. The army navy, commanded by Irani, operates in the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean, and the Caspian Sea, while the Revolutionary Guard navy controls the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.
In August, Iran’s army navy fired a range of anti-ship cruise missiles in large-scale exercises in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean, following a separate Iran-Russia drill in the Caspian a month earlier. Officials said the systems were radar-evading and high-precision, and warned that any new conflict with Israel would bring a stronger response from Tehran.
The Caspian Sea, bordered only by the five littoral states, has long been treated by Tehran and Moscow as off-limits to foreign militaries.
Located near the city of Kermanshah, Sarab Niloufar -- famous for its blue lotus flowers and migratory birds -- has turned into cracked earth after years of over-extraction of groundwater, repeated droughts, and unregulated farming, Tasnim reported on Tuesday.
Provincial authorities blamed excessive water use for crop irrigation, illegal wells, and reduced rainfall for the collapse of the lake’s ecosystem.
Soraya Ghorbani, deputy head of Kermanshah’s Department of Environment, said this week that more than half of the factors driving the crisis stem from “repeated planting of water-intensive crops and poor management of groundwater resources.”
She warned that even heavy rainfall would no longer be enough to restore the body of water due to severe shortage of its groundwater.
Experts say the drying of Sarab Niloufar mirrors a national trend of environmental decline.
A new satellite-based study shows that Iran is undergoing severe land subsidence across 106 regions covering about 31,400 square kilometers -- an area roughly the size of Belgium -- mainly due to excessive groundwater extraction for agriculture.
Iran’s water reservoirs have reached their lowest levels in decades -- with only 35% of dam capacity remaining, according to government data -- while 19 major dams are nearing depletion and three have already run dry.
Across the north, wetlands in Golestan Province have also shrunk dramatically after years of drought and dam construction, leaving vast tracts of land barren and driving away hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.
Environmentalists warn that the loss of these wetlands could turn fertile regions into new dust storm hotspots, worsening air quality and threatening nearby farms.
In western Iran, the crisis has both ecological and social dimensions. Once a key habitat and tourist attraction, Sarab Niloufar supported local livelihoods and served as a natural water reservoir.
Officials say its disappearance shows how climate change, mismanagement, and overuse are converging to push Iran’s fragile water systems toward collapse.
“Without immediate national action on sustainable agriculture, groundwater control and interprovincial water sharing, more wetlands will follow the same fate,” Ghorbani said.
Majid Shoja, border guard commander for Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province, said this week that more than 1.5 million Afghan nationals had returned to their country since the start of the Persian year in March -- triple the number from last year.
About 500,000 of them left legally after their residence permits expired, mostly through the official crossings of Dogharoun and Taybad, he said.
Shoja added that around 40,000 illegal crossings were prevented in the first half of the year, double the figure from the same period in 2024.
Iran, he said, is expanding its eastern border sealing project, including the construction of a 300-kilometer border wall, of which 100 kilometers have been completed, and the installation of thermal cameras, acoustic sensors, and 360-degree watchtowers.
These systems, he said, can detect movement up to 45 kilometers away and reduce reliance on manpower.
The commander described the use of advanced surveillance and what he called border diplomacy with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan as key to enhancing security and managing migration.
He also reported a 12% rise in cross-border vehicle traffic and the growing importance of the Taybad free-trade zone and the Khaf–Herat railway link for legal commerce.
Broader crackdown on Afghan migrants
The tighter border measures come amid a nationwide crackdown on undocumented Afghans. In late August, an Interior Ministry official said Iran had expelled 1.8 million migrants over the past year -- most of them Afghans -- and planned to deport at least 800,000 more under a new removal plan.
Rights groups have reported several deadly incidents involving Afghan migrants. On September 8, border guards in Sistan-Baluchestan province opened fire on about 120 Afghans attempting to cross, killing six and wounding five, according to the Baluch rights group Haalvsh.
Human rights monitors, including HRANA, condemned the use of heavy weapons and described the incident as a violation of international law.
The United Nations has warned that mass deportations could trigger a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where the Taliban government is struggling to absorb the influx.
Tehran says its policies are aimed at enforcing immigration law and protecting its borders, insisting that Afghan migrants are treated in accordance with domestic and international norms.
“According to the foreign minister, such conditions have not been formally presented to Iran, and until that happens they cannot be seriously reviewed,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters in Tehran.
The Washington Post reported last week that the Trump administration wants Tehran to agree to direct and meaningful talks, end uranium enrichment, impose curbs on its missile program, and stop funding regional armed groups as the basis for any renewed diplomacy.
US officials cited in the report said the reimposition of United Nations snapback sanctions last month was meant to create the environment for a diplomatic solution.
The measures, triggered by Britain, France and Germany, restored pre-2015 sanctions covering arms transfers, financial restrictions, and missile-related activities.
Iran has dismissed the new sanctions as “illegal and politically motivated,” saying they violate its right to peaceful nuclear development.
The sanctions followed a June conflict in which Israeli and US strikes targeted Iranian military and nuclear sites, killing hundreds of personnel and civilians. The 12-day war ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24.
Tehran has consistently denied pursuing nuclear weapons, insisting its program is civilian in nature.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly last month that Iran remains open to dialogue but that “the wall of distrust with Washington is quite thick and quite tall.”
Earlier, Iran’s Security Chief Ali Larijani said US efforts to dictate Tehran’s military and foreign policy predetermine any negotiation outcome, calling them incompatible with Iran’s sovereignty.
The two countries held indirect talks earlier this year aimed at reducing tensions over Iran’s nuclear activities, but progress stalled after the June escalation.
Analysts say the US conditions -- particularly ending enrichment and curbing missile development -- mirror past sticking points that have derailed previous rounds of diplomacy.
