Iran’s water diplomacy versus neighbors

Iran's foreign policy towards its neighbors is a policy of friendship and brotherhood, but due to being located in a hot and dry region and facing a water crisis, it has always had differences with neighboring countries over the management of water resources.

These differences have sometimes led to verbal and even military conflicts, resulting in the formation of water diplomacy in Iran's foreign policy in light of the country’s long borders with its neighbors.

Iran is bound by seven countries on land, with which it has a total of 5,894 km. The length of its common land borders with Iraq in the west is 1,608 km, which is the longest. Turkmenistan in the northeast has 1,190 km of joint borders with Iran, Pakistan in the southeast shares 925 km of borders with Iran and Afghanistan’s shared border is 919 km. The Iran-Azerbaijan border in the northwest is 757 km in length, with Turkey it is 566 km, and Armenia also in the northwest is 45 km.

Iran’s water diplomacy towards its northern neighbors and Pakistan is generally assessed as positive, with which most of the water disputes have been resolved through constructive negotiations, except Armenia whose long-term pollution of the Aras as a result of metal mining plants and waste from the Metsamor nuclear power plant is a point of frustration.

According to the National Geographic, the Metsamor reactor located in a seismic zone only 36 kilometers from Armenia's capital and most populous city is among the most dangerous nuclear plants in the world.

Nevertheless, Armenia attaches great importance to Iran, due to its lack of relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, which makes the resolution of any dispute easy.

With regard to western neighbors, there is a state of relative stability with Iraq and Turkey, even though the extremely sensitive region is prone to severe water disputes in the future.

However, there is a nagging sense of unease with the eastern neighbor which is ignoring water sharing contracts with Iran.

Severe droughts in the region and the Taliban’s conflict of views with the Islamic Republic have seen the ruling group in Afghanistan block the flow of river water from entering Iran, prompting Tehran to complain to the United Nations under its water diplomacy principles.

Water diplomacy, in general, means the potential for conflict and violence, or otherwise, cooperation and management over shared and international water resources, which has received much attention in recent years due to the worsening water crises.

Water diplomacy is the ability of interested countries to manage shared waters to achieve a stable political situation so that transboundary and international water resources are used sustainably without any tension or conflict between the parties with water rights.

 Several legal theories have been proposed regarding the exploitation of shared waters, the most important of which are the Harmon doctrine of absolute sovereignty, the doctrine of absolute riverian integrity and the doctrine of limited territorial sovereignty.

Under the Harmon doctrine, a riparian state, often the uppermost riparian, has the absolute freedom to utilize the waters flowing through its territory regardless of the effect of its actions on other riparian states.

The riverian doctrine stipulates that a state may not alter the natural flow of waters passing through its territory in any manner which will affect the water in another state, be it upstream or downstream.

The third doctrine, as an intermediate approach, has been taken in resolving the majority of international water disputes which requires equitable and reasonable use of water resources and prevention of harm.

The basis of Iranian civil law for the use of shared water resources is base on Islamic theory which is said to have been established by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Medina.

Islamic theory gives priority to the exploitation of shared water resources to the owner or country of the upstream, requiring that the surplus water be sent downstream. Nevertheless, according to this theory, the upstream does not have the right to cause damage to the downstream.  

The rising need for agricultural water as a result of the widespread cultivation of poppy in Afghanistan and the country’s non-allocation of water rights from Helmand River has caused the drying up of Lake Hamun and the destruction of agriculture in Iran.

Afghanistan’s politicization of dams against Iran

A decade after the unilateral control and capture of water resources of Harirud through the Salma dam, Afghanistan’s rulers have built a second barrier on the river, further disrupting the flow of water to Iran and Turkmenistan.

Afghanistan is also building dams on the Harirud River, which has already cut the water flow the Iran-Turkmenistan Friendship Dam. The recent inauguration of the second dam on Harirud is about to cause serious problems of security proportions in the supply of drinking water to the megacity of Mashhad and agricultural water to Khorasan Razavi Province.

Having said that, Iran’s losses are in contradiction with the most accepted theories on the exploitation of shared waters and hence, the country is entitled to exploiting its full rights to the Helmand, Harirud and other rivers.

The Islamic Republic must exhaust its water diplomacy to persuade Afghanistan that it would be better off by improving the cultivation pattern and increasing the irrigation efficiency in the watersheds within its territory, and thus securing Iran's legal water rights.

Otherwise, Afghanistan would be required to pay damages to Iran for enormous losses which it has caused in the country’s eastern provinces. 

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