What is the reason for Baghdad’s reluctance to carry out airstrikes?
The Iraqis have their foot on Arvandroud’s throat.
The reason for Baghdad’s reluctance to carry out airstrikes, according to Iran’s Gate news agency, is one of the most challenging issues that has become a point of contention between Tehran and Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The Iranian side has been trying for years to convince the Iraqi side to resume airstrikes, but so far, there has been no sign of willingness from the Iraqi government to do so.
The Arvand River, which is one of the vital arteries of Khuzestan province, has suffered significant damage during the eight-year imposed war with Iraq. It should be noted that according to international laws, this border river should be regularly dredged by both Iran and Iraq, but after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the emergence of different governments in Iraq, the dredging operations have been halted.
In this regard, recently the Director General of Bandar and Maritime Affairs of Khormojar announced the lack of readiness of Iraq for necessary cooperation to start dredging operations. Although Iran has continued its actions in this regard, the large number of sunken vessels during the war in the bed of this river has been such that only during the year 1401, the Iranian side has removed at least 6 large sunken vessels through dredging operations from this river.
However, experts believe that if the Iraqi side does not cooperate for the dredging of the Arvand river, the sunken military equipment along with the silt and sediment naturally present in the Arvand will practically halt water transportation through this major river.
Whose responsibility is dredging?
According to international laws, the riverbed boundary of border rivers is recognized as the border between two countries. The same applies to the Arvand River, which defines the border between Iran and Iraq; the law of the riverbed boundary is valid.
Considering this issue and the potential of Arvandroud for transportation between Iran and Iraq, it is necessary for the governments to coordinate and carry out dredging operations within specific time intervals. This is of great importance due to the ongoing transportation flow in these rivers. However, as mentioned, Baghdad has refrained from carrying out dredging operations for various reasons.
It should be noted that Iran alone does not have the capability to fully dredge this river, as implementing this plan would essentially require Iran to violate Iraq’s territorial sovereignty, which is recognized as an invasion of neighboring territory in international law. Therefore, it can be said that the negligence of the Iraqi government over the years has exposed this vital artery of Khuzestan to serious environmental risks. These risks can threaten the survival of Arvandroud and put the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens at risk.
What is the reason for Iraq’s negligence?
Many believe that the Iraqi government, motivated by political reasons, has hindered the implementation of projects such as the diversion of the Arvand River and the draining of the Hawr al-Azim marsh in the Iraqi section. In fact, the government of this country has tried to create environmental problems as a leverage in its relations with neighboring countries. Although these actions were limited during Saddam’s rule over Iraq, they have been halted despite the presence of governments that have clear affiliations with the Islamic Republic, especially Nouri al-Maliki.
Now that Mr. Soudani’s government has taken the helm in Baghdad, it seems that this tool has become important for the new Iraqi government, which does not have warm relations with Tehran by nature. Given the aforementioned conditions, it is unlikely that the Soudani government has the desire or motives to initiate the diversion project of the Arvand River.
Although the Deputy of Maritime Affairs of the Ports and Maritime Organization of the country recently announced the pursuit of negotiations between Iran and Iraq to start the diversion project, the same official stated that diplomatic efforts have not yet yielded results and there has been no progress in this regard.
One is Khorramshahr and one is Arvand.
Bandar-e Khorramshahr is one of the most important points that its livelihood is completely dependent on the prosperity of Arvandrud. For this reason, the Iranian government needs the cooperation of the Iraqi government to pursue the dredging operations from both sides.
As mentioned, many military equipment have been sunk and buried in the heart of Arvandrud, which will make the dredging work much more difficult. It is estimated that the number of large and medium-sized mines in Arvand Rud exceeds 300 cases, which not only creates problems for water traffic in some cases but also poses a danger of explosion and killing innocent citizens.
Khorramshahr also strongly needs the transportation route to remain open in this great river. The rivers, which not only have significant transit functions for the residents of Bandar-e Khorramshahr, but also raise environmental concerns. It should be noted that even if the mines of the Iran-Iraq war era did not exist in the bed of Arvand, the accumulation of sediment and mud in the riverbed would still create significant natural and health hazards for the residents of Arvand’s coast.
