Middle East
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (left) and Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid (right) shake hands in Tehran on April 29, 2023. Photo: handout/Iraqi presidency
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Emphasizing their friendly, neighbourly ties, the presidents of Iran and Iraq in Tehran on Saturday said they will cooperate over issues of sharing water resources and combatting the drug trade.
“The relations between the two countries are coherent and getting stronger, and we must all work to develop them in coordination and continuous cooperation at all levels, including taking into account Iraq’s share of water, especially since most of the tributaries of the Tigris River and Shatt al-Arab originate in the Islamic Republic,” Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid said in a press conference with this Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.
Rashid arrived in Tehran on Saturday morning in the company of Iraq’s foreign, water resources, and electricity ministers and the national security advisor.
Iraq and Iran share a number of rivers and access to these vital resources has been a source of friction in the past, including as a contributing factor in the bloody war they fought in the 1980s.
With respect to the Shatt al-Arab river (called the Arvand in Iran) that forms the southern stretches of their shared border as set out in the 1975 Algiers Agreement, Raisi said “we also respect Iraq's right to water according to the agreements signed in the past, and both countries must be committed and adhere to this right so as not to create problems and disruptions.”
Iran has dammed the Karun River, a tributary of the Shatt al-Arab, adding to Iraq’s water shortages caused by dams in Turkey, low precipitation levels due to climate change, and mismanagement and pollution.
On the growing drug trade in the Middle East, Rashid said, “We must also give utmost importance to cooperation in combating drugs and their trade, as it is a scourge that has turned into a cancer that ravages people.”
In recent years, the sale and use of drugs has increased in Iraq, which is a major conduit for trafficking of the stimulant captogan that is largely produced in Syria. Iraqi security forces have stepped up their narcotics operations.
"It is a source of satisfaction that Iraq is also determined in the fight against drugs,” said Raisi, adding that Iran is “at the forefront of the fight against drugs.”
The two leaders also discussed regional security with Rashid congratulating Iran on its diplomatic breakthrough with Saudi Arabia and Raisi condemning the presence of American troops in Iraq as a “threat to the security of the region.”
“The relations between the two countries are coherent and getting stronger, and we must all work to develop them in coordination and continuous cooperation at all levels, including taking into account Iraq’s share of water, especially since most of the tributaries of the Tigris River and Shatt al-Arab originate in the Islamic Republic,” Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid said in a press conference with this Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.
Rashid arrived in Tehran on Saturday morning in the company of Iraq’s foreign, water resources, and electricity ministers and the national security advisor.
Iraq and Iran share a number of rivers and access to these vital resources has been a source of friction in the past, including as a contributing factor in the bloody war they fought in the 1980s.
With respect to the Shatt al-Arab river (called the Arvand in Iran) that forms the southern stretches of their shared border as set out in the 1975 Algiers Agreement, Raisi said “we also respect Iraq's right to water according to the agreements signed in the past, and both countries must be committed and adhere to this right so as not to create problems and disruptions.”
Iran has dammed the Karun River, a tributary of the Shatt al-Arab, adding to Iraq’s water shortages caused by dams in Turkey, low precipitation levels due to climate change, and mismanagement and pollution.
On the growing drug trade in the Middle East, Rashid said, “We must also give utmost importance to cooperation in combating drugs and their trade, as it is a scourge that has turned into a cancer that ravages people.”
In recent years, the sale and use of drugs has increased in Iraq, which is a major conduit for trafficking of the stimulant captogan that is largely produced in Syria. Iraqi security forces have stepped up their narcotics operations.
"It is a source of satisfaction that Iraq is also determined in the fight against drugs,” said Raisi, adding that Iran is “at the forefront of the fight against drugs.”
The two leaders also discussed regional security with Rashid congratulating Iran on its diplomatic breakthrough with Saudi Arabia and Raisi condemning the presence of American troops in Iraq as a “threat to the security of the region.”
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