Iran Exchanges Heavy Gunfire with Taliban on Afghan Border, Escalating Tensions over Water Rights

The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Iranian border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply escalating rising tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights. (Reuters)
The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Iranian border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply escalating rising tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights. (Reuters)
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Iran Exchanges Heavy Gunfire with Taliban on Afghan Border, Escalating Tensions over Water Rights

The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Iranian border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply escalating rising tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights. (Reuters)
The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Iranian border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply escalating rising tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights. (Reuters)

The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Iranian border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply escalating rising tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country's deputy police chief, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire first Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. IRNA said Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious damage."

From the Taliban's view, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor accused Iran of shooting first. Takor said the firefight killed two people, one from each country, and wounded others. He described the situation as now being under control.

IRNA, quoting Iranian police, said two border guards had been killed. However, that number may be higher. The semiofficial, English-language newspaper Tehran Times said the fighting killed three Iranian border guards. IRNA said the Milak border crossing with Afghanistan, a major trade route, was closed until further notice over the gunfight.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers dialogue to be a reasonable way for any problem,” Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khawarazmi said in a statement. “Making excuses for war and negative actions is not in the interest of any of the parties.”

The advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues affecting the Baluch people in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents in the area saying the fighting took place near the Kang district of Nimroz. It said some people in the area had fled the violence.

Videos posted online, purportedly from the area, included the crackle of machine gun fire in the distance. HalVash later posted an image of what appeared to be the remains of a mortar round, saying that “heavy weapons and mortars are being used.”

Later videos from HalVash purported to show Iranian forces firing a mortar, as well as Taliban troops firing American-made machine guns at an Iranian border post. Other Taliban fighters drove armored vehicles likely left behind by NATO forces.

Iran vowed not let the Taliban attack stand.

“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, Gen. Ahmadreza Radan, as saying.

The clash comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month warned the Taliban 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 UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The Iran Meteorological Organization says that an estimated 97% of the country now faces some level of drought.

The Taliban seized Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. In the time since, Afghanistan has become the most repressive in the world for women and girls, depriving them of virtually all their basic rights, according to the UN Hunger remains endemic.

While not directly accepting the Taliban government, Iran has maintained relations with Afghanistan's new rulers. Tehran also has called on the Taliban to allow women and girls to go to school.

Earlier on Saturday, the Taliban's 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. IRNA acknowledged the meeting, saying “that issues between the two countries will be better resolved through dialogue.”

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

In recent days, pro-Taliban accounts online also have been sharing a video with a song calling on the acting defense minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, to stand up to Iran. Mullah Yaqoob is the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban’s late founder and first supreme leader.

“We are a government, we have power,” the song goes. “Our leader Mullah Yaqoob will stand against Iran or we are not the republic’s government. We are not slaves, our leader Mullah Yaqoob will stand against Iran.”



Iran, Europeans Test Diplomacy with Trump Term Looming

Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
TT

Iran, Europeans Test Diplomacy with Trump Term Looming

Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)

European and Iranian officials made little progress in meetings on Friday on whether they could engage in serious talks, including over Iran's disputed nuclear program, before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, diplomats said.

The meetings in Geneva, the first since this month's US election, come after Tehran was angered by a European-backed resolution last week that criticized Iran for poor cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

"Another round of candid discussions with PDS (political directors) of France, Germany and United Kingdom," Iran's former ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said on X. "It was agreed to continue diplomatic dialogue in near future."

A European official said there had been nothing of note in the meeting, but that Tehran had shown an eagerness to explore how diplomacy could work in the next few weeks.

Trump, who after pulling the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers pursued a "maximum pressure" policy that sought to wreck Iran's economy, is staffing his new administration with noted hawks on Iran.

Iran's deputy foreign minister and senior nuclear negotiator Majid Takhtravanchi met the EU's coordinator Enrique Mora on Thursday evening before holding various talks on Friday with the European diplomats, known as the E3.

While Trump's return to power leaves many questions open, four European diplomats said the E3 countries - the European parties to the 2015 accord - felt it was vital to engage now because time was running out.

The level of distrust between both sides was highlighted when the E3 on Nov. 21 pushed ahead with a resolution by the IAEA board of governors which criticized Iran.

They dismissed as insufficient and insincere a last-minute Iranian move to cap its stock of uranium that is close to weapons grade.

Tehran reacted to the resolution by informing the IAEA that it plans to install more uranium-enriching centrifuges at its enrichment plants.

In rare public comments, the head of France's foreign intelligence service Nicolas Lerner said on Friday there was a real the risk of Iranian nuclear proliferation in the coming months.

"Our services are working side by side to face what is undoubtedly one of the most, if not the most, critical threat of the coming months ... possible atomic proliferation in Iran," Lerner said, speaking in Paris alongside his British counterpart, adding the two agencies were defining their strategy.

A European official had earlier said the primary aim in Geneva was to try to agree a calendar timeline and framework to embark on good faith talks so that there was a clear commitment from Iranians to begin negotiating something concrete before Trump arrives.

It was unclear immediately if there had been any such progress.

"If we finalize a roadmap with France, Britain and Germany on how to resolve the nuclear dispute, then the ball will be in the US court to revive or kill the 2015 nuclear deal," the senior Iranian official said.

The E3 have adopted a tougher stance on Iran in recent months, notably since Tehran ramped up its military support to Russia. However, they have always insisted that they wanted to maintain a policy of pressure and dialogue.

Iranian officials say their primary objective will be finding ways to secure lifting of sanctions.

WAR FEARS

The 2015 deal lifted international sanctions against Iran in return for Tehran accepting some curbs to its nuclear program. Since Trump left the deal, Iran has accelerated its nuclear program while limiting the IAEA's ability to monitor it.

"There isn't going to be an agreement until Trump takes office or any serious talks about the contours of a deal," said Kelsey Davenport, director of non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association advocacy group.

The talks, which also discussed the Middle East situation and Iran's military cooperation with Russia, took place amid fears that an all-out war could break out between Iran and arch-rival Israel despite a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Iran's Hezbollah allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he wanted to turn Israel's focus to Iran.

The European powers hope Iran will decide to begin negotiating new restrictions on its nuclear activities with a view to having a deal by the summer.

That would give enough time to implement new limits on Iran's program and lift sanctions before the accord ends in October 2025. It is not clear whether Trump would back negotiations.