Rasul Mousavi, Iran’s assistant foreign minister, assured Afghan refugees in Iran that they are Tehran’s guests and would be respected. Mousavi indirectly referred to the Taliban as the source of the problems.
Iran’s assistant foreign minister responded to the concerns of Afghan refugees regarding the tensions between Tehran and the Taliban over water rights issues and its possible impacts on Afghans residing in Iran.
Mohammad Kazem Kazemi, an Afghan writer, and poet living in Iran, referred to the possible pressure of the Iranian government on Afghan refugees.
Referring to the statements of some Iranian officials who called for putting pressure on Afghan immigrants, Kazemi wrote in a note on his Instagram account, "The truth is that these refugees are actually more on Iran's side, both in terms of being in Iran and socialising and living together in the Iranian society and in the sense that they were mainly opponents or even rejected by the Taliban.”
Kazemi claimed that Afghan refugees living in Iran can be a support to Tehran inside Afghanistan.
Earlier, a member of the Iranian parliament had demanded the expulsion of Afghan refugees from the country in order to put pressure on the Taliban regarding the water rights from Helmand water.
In the past weeks, the tension between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic have intensified over water rights from the Helmand River. The tensions have escalated by the intervention of Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, who warned the Taliban to resolve the water rights issue from Helmand River.
The Taliban said it is committed to providing Iran's rights according to the 1973 treaty, however, the drought in recent years has reduced the water in the Helmand River.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, however, insisted that an Iranian technical expert team should examine the Taliban’s claim of lack of water in Afghanistan dams.
