TEHRAN: Iran demanded on Thursday that Afghanistan respect its “water rights”, charging that an upstream river dam there is restricting the flow into a lake that straddles their common border.

Speaking on a visit to drought-parched southeastern Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi said: “I warn the rulers of Afghanistan to immediately give the people of Sistan-Baluchistan their water rights.”

The Helmand River flows from the mountains of the central Afghan province of the same name for more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) into Lake Hamoun, which straddles the Afghanistan-Iran border. Raisi said Afghanistan should allow Iranian experts to visit and evaluate the water situation “straight away”, adding that “the passage of time will not solve the issue”.