Issa Bozorgzadeh, the spokesman for the Islamic Republic's water industry, said that Afghanistan's "unilateral" exploitation of the Harirud River is a violation of Iran's customary rights.
Bozorgzadeh said that the construction of the Pashdan Dam will affect the supply of drinking water to several million people.
Bozorgzadeh said that the construction and impoundment of Pashdan dam in the Harirud border basin causes the reduction of the natural flow of the Harirud border river and the occurrence of social and environmental damages in the downstream areas, especially the problem of serious damage to the drinking water supply of the holy city of Mashhad.
"The residents of the Harirud basin in Iran and Afghanistan have benefited from the natural flow of this transboundary river over the years, and customary and historical rights have been created for both sides," said Bozorgzadeh.
Bozorgzadeh said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly expressed its official objection through diplomatic channels to the negative cross-border effects of the unilateral dam construction measures by the Afghan side in the Harirud basin and has called for joint cooperation to assess and mitigate these effects and choose sustainable development instead of destructive development.
Tehran expects the Taliban "to put on its agenda the necessary cooperation and measures regarding the rational and fair use of the water of the Harirud border river upstream in a way that does not harm the historical and customary rights of the downstream areas", the official said.
He said that the Ministry of Energy, along with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, calls for immediate negotiations in this regard and declares its readiness to cooperate with the Taliban in finding joint and acceptable solutions to reduce the cross-border effects of the Pashdan and Salma dams.
The Pashdan Dam is located in Karkh district, 25 kilometres from the city of Herat province, and its construction began in 2011 and was supposed to be completed in three years.
The Taliban's Ministry of Water and Energy recently announced that 80% of the construction work of the Pashdan Dam in Herat has been completed and the dam will be put into operation soon.
According to the ministry, with the completion of this dam, it has the capacity to store 54 million cubic metres of water and produce two megawatts of electricity.
