Water Issues

currency exchange in Tehran

Iran currency dips to new low of 1.2M per dollar as sanctions bite: What to know

Since US President Donald Trump took office in January, the rial has plummeted.

sign

Turkey, Iraq sign oil-for-water deal: What to know

The landmark deal between Ankara and Baghdad sets out a finance mechanism to direct Iraqi oil proceeds into Turkish-built water infrastructure.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani review honor guards during the latter's official visit to Ankara, May 8, 2025.

Analysis

Water for influence: Turkey moves to ease Iraq's water shortages ahead of elections

Turkey took the step in a bid to ensure that relations with Iraq's current and future leaderships remain manageable after the vote.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

A general view shows the Samra Waste Water Treatment Plant, Zarqa, Jordan, March 13, 2018.

Analysis

Jordan’s water security caught between $5B megaproject, frayed Israel ties

Amman's efforts to tackle acute water challenges have delivered breakthroughs in 2025, while progress toward the end of the Gaza war could see revived interest in Israel-Jordan water ties.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Latest News

Drought-stricken Iraq sends delegation to Turkey to discuss water cooperation

SABUR RASHID/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

RSF hits Darfur hospital as cholera, dengue fever spread in war-torn Sudan

A nurse treats a Dengue fever patient at a hospital in Omdurman, west of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Sept. 24, 2025.

Egypt steps up alarm on Ethiopia megadam as Sudan battles floods: What to know

A resident stands by belongings to salvage in a pool of water due to the flooding of the Nile river in the Sudanese village of Wad Ramli north of Khartoum on Oct. 1, 2025.

Wildfires ravage Syria’s Latakia for 4th day in row: What to know

Residents of the village of Shatha watch as a wildfire rages on the nearby hills, in the western Hama countryside in west-central Syria on Aug. 15, 2025.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Moscow’s permanent representative to International Organizations in Vienna, mets with US Iran Envoy Robert Malley in Vienna, Austria, May 16, 2021.

The Takeaway: Iran nuclear diplomacy creeps forward in Moscow and Paris

Also: Taliban’s success inspires Syrian jihadis; Russia’s delicate diplomacy in Syria and Turkey; Nile dam parley peters out; IDF snared in political rift; Egypt’s Avenue of the Sphinxes; and more … in only about 1,500 words.

South Sudan's Vice President James Wani Igga (L), Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (C) and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir attend a meeting in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on March 23, 2015.

Will political tension in Ethiopia benefit Egypt's position on Nile dam dispute?

Egypt is patiently following up on the internal political and military developments in Ethiopia before taking any new position on the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly (R) welcomes his Sudanese counterpart Abdalla Hamdok upon his arrival in Cairo, Egypt, March 11, 2021.

Nile dam dispute remains stalled as Egypt, Sudan run out of options

The dispute over the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam remains unresolved between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, with the latter attempting to revive the Nile water sharing agreement.

Palestinians fill bottles of water for home consumption at the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, April 8, 2021.

Gazans fear worst after Hamas bans water wells

The Hamas-affiliated Water and Environmental Quality Authority to ban the digging of wells without a license, as many Gazans suffer from a lack of potable water.

Mohamed Roble

Egypt pledges support to Somalia, eyeing Horn of Africa influence

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Roble held talks in Cairo with senior Egyptian officials at a time when Egypt is attempting to expand its influence in the Horn of Africa.

Ethiopian president visits Turkish parliament

Turkey views ties with Ethiopia as key to influence in Africa

Turkey’s quest for normalization with Egypt and a new beginning with Sudan hinges on how far Ankara takes its relations with Ethiopia amid a simmering water dispute in the region over Ethiopia’s mega dam on the Nile.

This combination of pictures created on Aug. 15, 2021 shows CIA Director, William Burns, testifying during a House Intelligence Committee hearing about worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 15, 2021 and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) attending a press conference with his Russian counterpart at the presidential palace in the capital Cairo on Dec. 11, 2017.

CIA Chief Burns meets with Egypt's Sisi

The pair discussed the situation in Afghanistan, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the crisis in Libya, according to the Egyptian presidency.

SHWAN MOHAMMED/AFP via Getty Images

Water protests erupt in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Much of the Middle East is suffering from water scarcity issues amid extremely high temperatures in the summer.

Ethiopian recruits

The Takeaway: Egypt weighs options on Nile dam as Ethiopia escalates war in Tigray

Also, new Israeli envoy is "frighteningly serious"; Turkey’s wildfires; Nile crocodiles in Sudan; Sisi increases price of bread; and more … in about 1,500 words!

A Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) comes out the of the water at the Kuku Zoo wildlife park in the Khartoum Bahri (North) twin city of the Sudanese capital, Sudan, June 25, 2020.

Is Ethiopia to blame for Nile crocodiles appearing in Khartoum?

Officials in Sudan are advising citizens to avoid the Nile River because of crocodiles — which some are blaming on Ethiopia’s second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

SERGEI CHIRIKOV/AFP via Getty Images

Russia denies siding with Ethiopia in Nile dam dispute

Egypt interprets Russian reluctance to back its position in the GERD dispute as pro-Ethiopian, but Moscow says it is pursuing a balanced position between Cairo and Addis Ababa.

Sudan's Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasser Abbas (R) and Minister for Foreign Affairs Omar Gamar al-Din are pictured during a video conference.

Can Algerian mediation bring sides closer in Nile dam dispute?

Algeria has become a party in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis after consenting to assume a mediation role to resolve the dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, which experts count on to peddle the wheel of the negotiations.