TEHRAN— Visiting the Dugharun border city in Khorasan Razavi on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Iran is pursuing its water rights from the Helmand River through legal entities.

“We are following up on the issue of preserving Iran's water rights from the Helmand River through legal approaches so that the interim Afghanistan governing body would provide Iran with the desired water rights from this river,” Khatibzadeh said. 

On the sidelines of his tour of the border city which also included a visit to the city of Taibad, Khatibzadeh told IRNA that high commissioners from the two countries have had contacts on water sharing.

 “Iran’s share of water, which should have been provided, has not been attained until today,” he regretted. 

The spokesman also said there are good infrastructure on the Dugharun border that has facilitated the process for transit, export and import of goods.

“We hope that similar facilities will be provided across the border and in Afghanistan,” Khatibzadeh noted. 

He added that appropriate equipment and facilities for providing services to Iranian and Afghan drivers at the Dugharun border are foreseen, which still needs to be upgraded.

“The purpose of visiting the Dugharun international crossing is to get acquainted with this economic center, and the different parts of the Dugharun border show the good neighborliness of the Islamic Republic of Iran with Afghanistan,” he continued.

According to the diplomat, Dugharun border is one of the most important land borders, which has a significant role in development of Iran-Afghanistan relations, 

The long-standing relations between Iran and Afghanistan show the high interactions between the two countries, he added.

On Saturday morning, Khatibzadeh led a delegation to the Dugharun International Crossing on the Iranian-Afghan border.

During his visit to the border crossing, Khatibzadeh visited the construction site of the foreign nationals' camp, the Shahid Fakhrizadeh parking lot, the Iran-Afghanistan border checkpoint, the Dugharun border checkpoint, the Dugharun special economic zone, and the representative office of the General Directorate of Foreigners and Immigrants in Taibad.

The director general of citizens and foreign visitors of Khorasan Razavi, the governor of Taibad and the commander of the Taibad border regiment accompanied Khatibzadeh on the visit.