Published on
March 31, 2009 in
Water.
IREN, Iran’s Environmental News Agency, has coverage of a recent international conference on the increasing likelihood of wars over water resources. Running under the headline “Fresh Warnings of Water Wars” the piece quotes a speech from Iranian environmental science professor Esmail Kahram who cited as a possible flashpoint Iran’s dispute with Afghanistan about water rights in the Helmand (aka Hirmand) River:
In our country, for example, Lake Hamoun once had 10 million cubic meters of capacity, but Afghanistan built the first and second Kajaki dams over the Helmand River [which flows from Afghanistan to Iran] and deprived us of this water. This shows how the issue of rivers that flow across borders are one of the problems that could lead to wars over water.
The dispute over this waterway has been simmering for at least a hundred hears (for background check out this piece) But the last few years of low rainfalls and increasing aridity of formerly fertile land seem to have again raised worries in Tehran over the geopolitics of water. It will be interesting to see if the water issue comes up in the upcoming discussions on Afghanistan. In any case, the Helmand dispute will be important to keep an eye on as a gauge of concerns over Iran’s water equation, and thus the cost-benefit of possible Iranian water deals with Arab states.
Published on
March 21, 2009 in
Politics.
First of all, best wishes for a happy Noruz to all! There is a fascinating article up at Iran Economist that explores the possibilities for Iranian cultural diplomacy based on appreciation for traditions of the Persian New Year. The (unsigned) article asks if Noruz could become part of an Iranian cultural diplomacy effort in the Islamic world, bur particularly the Caucuses and Central Asia. Iran ought to focus on these areas, the author suggests, because they spent a much longer time as part of the Iranian cultural and political sphere (Iran zamin) and continue to celebrate Noruz traditions like making samanu and displaying green wheat sprigs.
PS. The above gorgeous photo of a haft sin (the traditional display of seven items all beginning with the letter “s” to celebrate Noruz is courtesy of Flickr user Hamed Saber under a Creative Commons license
The above are two ads that appeared in today’s Etemad-e Melli. Both push vacation packages to Iran’s Kish and Qeshm free zones in the prelude to Noruz (Persian New Year). Interesting that in the upper ad Kish island takes pride of place over the major city of Shiraz.
The National Democratic Institute and Century Foundation have teamed up to produce a guide to the Iran’s upcoming elections. It has information on Iran’s electoral system, updated candidate lists and articles by Iranian journalists. Above is their handy timeline of major events on the runup to the June 12th election.
Here’s an excerpt from an important story from Gulf News that has been making the rounds in regional media:
Arabs must be kept in the loop about Iran, Arab League chief Amr Mousa said after a gathering of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Tuesday.
“I demand that no foreign [power] talks to Iran without Arabs being aware of it and having a role in the process,” Mousa said, in a direct reference to the latest US overtures towards Iran, which has been a subject of deep concern for Arab countries, especially the GCC states.
In an attempt to ease these concerns, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assured the gathering of Arab foreign ministers that GCC states would be involved in any process of reconciliation with Iran….
Prince Saud Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia recently declared that non-Arab countries should not interfere in Iraq, Lebanon or the Palestinian territories. He also called on a unified Arab position in dealing with Gulf security in light of a nuclear Iran. GCC states have a growing list of grievances towards the Persian country, such as Iranian claims to three UAE islands and Bahrain. It has been requested that these grievances be discussed at the next Arab League meeting.
The Asr-e Iran news website, which often runs slightly altered translations of English or Arabic media, had an amusing headline in their Persian adaptation:
“Arab League: Don’t talk to Iran without us; Hillary: Okay!”
Mohammad Nurian, the president of Iran’s Meteorology Organization has warned, that low rainfall levels put sixteen of Iran’s provinces on the “threshold of total drought ” for the upcoming year, according to a recent article published by Iran’s Environmental News Agency. Nurian warned that drastic human and economic costs would be suffered if the upcoming water shortage were not better planned-for. Iran’s varied geography makes for drastic differences in climate from region to region. In the past, severe water shortages in Iran’s south have scuttled deals to sell excess potable water from water-rich provinces like Khuzistan to Gulf Arab States.
The above image is taken from a very interesting report on Iranian wheat production put online by the US Foreign Agricultural Service. The full text and more historical data on Iran’s rainfall is available here.
