Disputes Caused by Water Sharing of the Border- Rivers. Case Study: Iran-Afghanistan 1903-2023

One of the consequences of global climate change is the water shortage crisis and the resulting disputes among the beneficiary governments. The criticality of the world's climatic situation has led to the emergence of disputes between governments in connection with the division of common waters.  In this article, by utilizing the descriptive-analytical method and collecting data and information by document-library method, we are going to respond to the following question: "Which are the factors influencing the formation and escalation of disputes caused by the division of water in border-rivers between the Islamic Republic of Iran and its neighbors”? The hypothesis presented in response to the question raised above is based on the premise that in addition to the obvious role of the “water scarcity” phenomenon in the occurrence of the disputes above, it is necessary that four other variables; the politics of transboundary powers, management of water resources, ideological gap and instability of states, also be investigated and analyzed by the political elites. The variables mentioned above are divided into two groups: internal (Instability of States and Water Resources Management) and external (Cross-Border Powers’ politics and Ideological Gap). It is necessary to remember that the explanation of the mentioned four variables does not necessarily mean the absence of other factors in the discussed framework. It is possible that in the context of future research in this field, some other new variables will be identified.