TEHRAN – The head of the Department of Environment (DOE), Shina Ansari, has called for Iraqi President, Nizar Amedi, to benefit from his previous experience and expertise to help tackle the environmental challenges of the two neighboring countries.

Iran and Iraq are grappling with similar environmental challenges, including drought, desertification, and sand and dust storms (SDSs) due to geographical and climatic commonalities, Ansari said in a letter to Amedi, who has previously served as Iraq’s minister of environment..

The impacts of these challenges transcend national borders and require close, ongoing, and strategic collaborations between the two nations, she added.

“For sure, your valuable past experiences would serve as a critical foundation to manage common environmental problems, and promote ties between Iran and Iraq,” Mehr news agency quoted Ansari as saying.

The official proposed promoting ties in the environmental sector, particularly management of water resources, and SDS hotspots.

Water rights, SDSs

In October 2025, Iranian and Iraqi officials discussed the challenges facing Hour al-Azim wetland, located on the border of the two countries, particularly drought and spontaneous combustion.

During a meeting held in Iraq, Iranian officials from the DOE highlighted the provision of the wetland’s water rights by Iraq, the lack of which has so far dried up the wetland, leading to spontaneous combustion, releasing a large amount of air pollution and smoke, adversely affecting cities in Khuzestan province, doe.ir reported.

They also emphasized the significance of managing resources and water consumption in Tigris River to be able to supply the wetland’s water rights, and prevent the intensification of fire in the Iraqi part of the Hour al-Azim wetland, and stop pollutants migration towards Khuzestan province.

Iraqi officials representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs elaborated on the amount of water in the reservoirs of dams built across Tigris River, and the severe drought in the region, pledging to secure the water rights next year.

The two sides also discussed utilizing firefighting aircraft and helicopters to distinguish fire and manage the wetland.

Boosting scientific cooperation to address common environmental challenges was among the other issues discussed in the meeting.

SDSs hotspots in Iraq severely affect western and south-western regions, the administration underscores cooperating with Baghdad to address the problem.

In September 2024, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in a meeting with Ansari, highlighted that one of the main axes of cooperation with Iraq will focus on conducting joint environmental activities as well as following up on previous agreements made in this regard, IRNA reported.

A report published by four Iranian researchers suggests that the main sources of sand and dust storms affecting Iran are emerging from Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Titled ‘Dust in Western Iran: the emergence of new sources in response to shrinking water bodies’, the report written by Azar Beyranvand, Ghasem Azizi, Omid Alizadeh, and Ali Darvishi Boloorani was published by Nature on September 27, 2023.

“The most influential sources affecting Western Iran are located on the shore and northwest of Lake Tharthar, Hour-al-Azim Marsh, the shore of Razzaza, Habbaniyah Lakes, and West Hammar Marsh, which contributed to 110, 79, 59, 56, and 51 dusty days, respectively.”

Indeed, the peak dust activity in Western Iran was during the period 2008–2012 in response to the substantial shrinkage of the main water bodies in Iraq.

MT/MG