Neither Iranian state media nor Taliban-controlled media have acknowledged the fighting on the border between Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and Afghanistan’s Nimruz province.
And the ‘Haal Wash’ organization, which has reported on the problems in the Sunni-majority province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted locals that the fighting began on Saturday morning.
The organization located the fighting near Kang district in Nimroz, saying some people in the area had been evacuated.
Videos posted online purportedly from the area included sounds of machine guns heard in the distance.
The organization later posted a photo of what appeared to be the remains of a mortar shell, saying, “Heavy weapons and mortar shells are in use.”
The clash apparently comes after Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi warned the Taliban earlier this month against Iran’s violation of water rights in the Helmand River.
Raisi’s comments were some of the strongest statements to date on Iran’s longstanding water concerns.
Drought has been a problem in Iran for nearly three decades, but it has worsened in the past decade, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The Iranian Meteorological Organization says about 97% of the country is currently facing some level of drought.
Earlier on Saturday, acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaki met with an Iranian envoy to Afghanistan to discuss water rights in the Helmand River, according to tweets from Zia Ahmed, an Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs official. Foreign Affairs.
For its part, the official Iranian news agency “IRNA” welcomed the meeting, saying that “the problems between the two countries will be better resolved through dialogue”.
But tensions are running high, with another video uploaded in recent days reportedly showing a confrontation between Iranian forces and the Taliban, as Iranian construction workers attempted to cement the border between the two countries.
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