Iranians call for soft power now to head off future water crises
At a conference on water, Iranian officials called for moving to resolve potential water disputes with neighbors peacefully, in light of expected drought and other water problems.
A senior military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Feb. 27 for talks with Iraq and Afghanistan on water resources.
At a two-day conference in Tehran, “National Water Diplomacy and Opportunities for Hydropolitics in West Asia,” former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Yahya Rahim Safavi said, “The issue of the scarcity of water resources may lead to … challenges among countries. In Iran, we have common water [resources] with 12 neighboring countries, which can [lead to] both interaction and tensions.”
“[Today],10.2 billion cubic meters of water flow out of Iran, of which more than 7 billion enter Iraq,” Safavi said. “We have to enter into negotiations with countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan and so on.”
He added, “We do not want [this issue] to be dealt with by the military and hard power and [we should instead] use soft power and diplomacy to bring about common engagement.”
