Iran should allow water into Iraq to prove friendship – VP

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said on Saturday from Basra province that Iran should prove its friendship to Iraq by allowing more water to enter Iraqi territories through the two rivers of Karun and Karkheh. “Iran says it loves the Iraqi people and supports the political process in Iraq, but it needs to prove this by allowing more water to enter Iraq through the two rivers of Karun and Karkheh,” al-Hashemi said in a conference attended by Iraqi News. Al-Hashemi, who arrived in Basra earlier today, said that the water of those two rivers would help Iraqi cities avoid a crisis, especially Basra. Recently, the Basra agriculture director, Engineer Amir Salman, said that his management is close to announce a crisis in Basra, as the water salt contamination has reached unprecedented levels that disable the city’s plans to produce any agricultural product. The oil-rich city of Basra lies 590 km south of Baghdad. MH (P) / SS 1