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Walid al-Sharifi, mayor of al-Faw in Basra, told Al-Monitor that neglect in cleaning the river has allowed sediment to accumulate, thus decreasing its depth. The Iraqi side of the river has become so shallow, he said, that vessels have to sail along the Iranian side, where the water is deeper. Sharifi noted, “Cleaning the river and increasing its depth would facilitate maritime trade in the port of Basra, which could then receive ships and revive previous activities that would produce economic profits for the country.”

Calls to clean up the river are not new. In 2016, Iraq had begun accelerating the process of cleaning the river, and at that time, Iraqi President Fuad Masum requested cooperation from Iran to do the same, with an eye toward ultimately being able to boost tourism and trade.

Meanwhile, Basra Provincial Council member Ahmed Abdul Hussein said on May 21 that factories in neighboring countries along the Gulf and the Shatt al-Arab basin have been dumping waste and garbage in the river. On a positive note, Sabah Hassan al-Bazouin, who heads the council, told Al-Monitor, “There are future projects to rehabilitate the river for navigation, agriculture and tourism, including understandings with a Dutch company to build a dam on the river to control salinity [from Gulf waters] and to clean and dredge it.”

Shatt al-Arab (Arabic: شط العرب‎, River of the Arabs) or Arvand Rud (Persian: اَروَندرود‎, Swift River) is a river of some 200 km (120 mi) in length, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris in the town of al-Qurnah in the Basra Governorate of southern Iraq. The southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the Persian Gulf. It varies in width from about 232 metres (761 ft) at Basra to 800 metres (2,600 ft) at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geologic time, with the Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west.

Country Iran, Iraq
Source
- location Tigris–Euphrates confluence at Al-Qurnah and Karun River in Iran
- elevation 4 m (13 ft)
Mouth
- location Persian Gulf
- elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Length 200 km (120 mi)
Basin size 884,000 km2 (341,000 sq mi)
Discharge
- average 1,750 m3/s (62,000 cu ft/s)

Iranian and Iraqi officials have discussed further arrangements for a planned clean-up of Arvand Rud border river in a meeting in Tehran.

Official delegations from Iran and Iraq held the second meeting of a joint commission for coordination on Arvand Rud in Tehran on Tuesday.

The meeting, held within the framework of an agreement signed by the leaders of the two neighbours, was co-chaired by the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s director general for legal and international affairs and the Iraqi foreign minister’s advisor.

In the meeting, also attended by representatives from different Iranian and Iraqi ministries and organizations, the two sides discussed the general framework of the arrangements for dredging and clean-up of Arvand Rud.

They also agreed that the joint operational ideas would be submitted to the high-ranking officials of the two countries to be agreed upon and implemented.

Before the meeting, technical experts from Iran and Iraq convened a session of the interim technical task force on dredging Arvand Rud to discuss a timetable for the clean-up operation at the border river.

On May 19, Iranian and Iraqi authorities signed the proceedings of a meeting that had been held to study the technical issues of dredging Arvand Rud.

Tehran and Baghdad have already signed an agreement to resolve disagreements over Arvand Rud based on the 1975 Algiers Accord, which deals with border issues and norms of good neighbourliness.

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iraqi ambassador to Tehran said Iraq and Iran have devised a series of measures to dredge the Arvand Rud and make the border river navigable again, noting that the plans will be implemented after formal endorsement by the political leaders of the two countries.

In an interview with Tasnim, Sa'ad Jawad Qandil explicated the joint plans that Iraq and Iran have formulated for dredging and clean-up of Arvand Rud within the framework of an agreement signed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

The ambassador said joint commissions from the two countries have held several meetings for coordination on Arvand Rud and have reached a road map to revive a main shipping route in the border river in compliance with the 1975 Algiers Accord.

According to Qandil, the road map entails an inclusive plan to dredge the river, salvage the shipwrecks, remove the obstacles, and clear the mines remaining in the river from the war in the 1980s.

The ambassador also noted that Iraq and Iran will tap into their local capabilities to dredge Arvand Rud, noting that international assistance will be also provided if necessary.

“The road map will be carried out after ratification by the political leaders of the two countries,” he concluded.

Back in May, Iranian and Iraqi authorities signed the proceedings of a meeting that had been held to study the technical issues of dredging Arvand Rud.

Last week, Official delegations from Iran and Iraq held the second meeting of a joint commission for coordination on Arvand Rud in Tehran to discuss the general framework of the arrangements for dredging and clean-up of the river.

The two sides have agreed that the joint operational ideas would be submitted to the high-ranking officials of the two countries to be agreed upon and implemented.

Tehran and Baghdad have already signed an agreement to resolve disagreements over Arvand Rud based on the 1975 Algiers Accord, which deals with border issues and norms of good neighborliness.