Iraq takes Iran to Court over water crisis

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Mahdi Al-Hamdani, confirmed that Turkey and Iraq shared the damage regarding water scarcity in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. At the same time, Iran did not help in this regard.

Al-Hamdani said in a press conference, "The relations with Turkey has greatly improved concerning the water file, and it had shared the damage with us when there was a water shortage during the past two seasons," noting that "the Ministry had announced earlier that the two countries had signed the memorandum of understanding that was inactive from 2009, and according to the agreement, Turkey will receive a fair and equitable share of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

The Minister of Resources added, "following up the water file with Iran is not the same as Turkey. Iran did not share the damage. Therefore, Diyala Governorate was affected because all its tributaries come from Iran; thus, Iran is violating all international conventions, and therefore we will suffer from scarcity and also from floods because most of them will go to Iranian territory."

He pointed out that the Ministry decided and submitted a letter to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to sue Iran at the International Court of Justice and the Human Rights Organization against Iran."