Iran, Afghanistan exchange heavy cross-border fire over water dispute

Two Iranian border guards and one Afghan soldier have been killed after Afghanistan and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire in the border area, sharply escalating rising tensions between the two nations amid a dispute over water rights.

"Today, in Nimroz province, Iranian border forces fired toward Afghanistan, which was met with a counter-reaction," a spokesperson of the Afghan interior ministry, Abdul Nafi Takor, said in a statement on Saturday.

"The situation is under control now. The Islamic Emirate does not want to fight with its neighbours," the spokesperson said, without identifying the victims.

He said one person had been killed on each side and several injured, though Iran's state-run IRNA news agency later said two Iranian border guards had been killed and two Iranian civilians injured.

It was not immediately clear what had provoked the incident. IRNA earlier quoted the country's deputy police chief, General Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Afghan government of opening fire first on Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province.

"The border forces of Iran will decisively respond to any border trespassing and aggression, and the current authorities of Afghanistan must be held accountable for their unmeasured and contrary actions to international principles," IRNA quoted Iran's police chief, General Ahmadreza Radan, as saying.

Rising tensions

The clash comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month warned Afghanistan not to violate Iran's water rights to the Helmand River. Raisi's remarks represented some of the strongest yet over the long-running concerns about water in Iran.

Drought has been a problem in Iran for some 30 years, but has worsened over the past decade, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. The Iran Meteorological Organization says that an estimated 97 percent of the country now faces some level of drought.

Earlier on Saturday, Afghanistan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with an Iranian envoy to Afghanistan to discuss the Helmand River water rights, according to tweets from Afghan Foreign Ministry official Zia Ahmad.

But tensions have been rising. Another video posted online in recent days purportedly showed a standoff between Iranian forces and Afghanistan as Iranian construction workers tried to reinforce the border between the two countries.