Iranian protesters attack Afghan vehicles in Sistan-Baluchestan

A handout picture made available by the Iranian Red Crescent on 19 August 2021, shows a member of the Iranian Red Crescent distributing food to Afghan refugees gathered at the Iran-Afghanistan border between Afghanistan and the southeastern Iranian Sistan and Baluchestan province, as they try to enter the Islamic republic following the takeover of their country by the Taliban.
AFP file photo

Iranians held a protest in country's Sistan-Baluchestan province and demanded their rights to water that flows from Afghanistan, according to media reports.

Citing the Iranian state media, Khaama Press reported that the security forces in the port interfered after the protestors started attacking trucks that belonged to the Afghan people. According to eyewitnesses, the protestors broke the windows of trucks.

Meanwhile, another group of Iranian protestors rallied at the Afghan consulate in Zahedan city and demanded the flow of Helmand water to the country, Khaama Press reported further.

The demonstrations come a year after former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani inaugurated the Kamal Khan hydroelectric Dam on Helmand River and said that they will no longer give water to Iran for free but in exchange for oil, Khaama Press reported.

The flow of the Helmand River to Iran has been a matter of conflict for years between Afghanistan and Iran which has not been fully resolved yet, as per an Afghan media outlet.