Investigating the role of natural factors on the security of Iran's border rivers

Water is the starting point of civilization and life, and its presence or absence has a great impact on the development and security of countries. For this reason, today there is a lot of attention to water resources in the country and the issues of border rivers and the study of the role of water in political behavior. The events that have taken place in the Middle East over the last few decades, the element of water in the form of border waters or border rivers, have created the greatest security tensions. Iran, as a semi-arid country in the Middle East, has not been without these bloody tensions and conflicts in recent decades. The start of the imposed war of Iraq against Iran over the Iran River from the Helmand River and the lack of a proper legal regime (Al-Arab), Iran's legal problems with Afghanistan over the Arvand River (Shatt al-Arab), Iran's legal problems with Afghanistan over Iran over the Helmand River Adequate legal regime and the violation of Iran's rights to extract water from the Aras River in the north of the country after the collapse of the former Soviet Union can be considered as concrete examples of this issue.

1-The international rivers between the two countries may have different shapes. In the first form, the river enters the neighboring country by cutting the border line, in this case, upstream and downstream relations are introduced between the two countries. In the second form, it is possible The river should be located in a part of its route as a border line and should not enter the neighboring country, which is called the border river. In the third form, it is a combination of the two previous types in which the river forms the border line between the two countries in a part of its route and then enters the neighboring country. In fact, in the blue boundaries and the boundaries of two political units, despite having advantages such as a clear path and a suitable width for marking due to their natural variability, it certainly can not play the role of a fixed line well.2- Complete marking of border rivers causes problems for two reasons. First: the lower channel of the river is constantly changing. Second: The width of the river fluctuates and may be divided into several branches.3- Rivers located on the border of Iran and neighboring countries, for various reasons, since the formation of the border has always affected the relations between the two countries.4-Rivers are subject to change under the influence of various factors such as geological, hydrological, geomorphological features and how they are exploited.

Given that the issue of water has a great impact on the development and security of countries, it is important to pay attention to water resources in the country and border river issues and study the role of water in political behavior. Over the past few decades, most security tensions in the Middle East have been due to border waters or border rivers. Iran is no exception to these tensions and conflicts. Establishing security in border areas requires the design and development of various programs and policies that depend on the type of border and how the border is created. Meanwhile, rivers, as the natural borders of the two political units, due to their variability and morphological diversity, have significant effects on the political relations between the two countries, especially on border issues. The changes in these rivers that have formed the borders of Iran and its neighbors, for various reasons since the formation of the border, have always strongly affected the relations between the two countries on both sides of the border and reducing the share of each has many security consequences.Establishing security in the border areas is one of the important concerns of the officials. Establishing security in border areas requires the design and development of various programs and policies that depend on the type of border and how the border is created. Meanwhile, rivers as the natural borders of two political units, due to their variability and morphological diversity, have significant effects on the political relations between the two countries, especially on border issues. In this basic-applied article with descriptive-analytical method, the border rivers of Iran and its neighbors have been considered as international rivers. The changes in these rivers that have formed the borders of Iran and its neighbors, for various reasons since the formation of the border, have always strongly affected the relations between the two countries on both sides of the border and reducing the share of each has had many security consequences. This study seeks to investigate the hypothesis that natural factors affect the shape of borders and ultimately national security. Typically, borders that cross mountainous areas, swamps, or dense forests are less likely to cause conflict, and borders that cross plain, low-lying areas, especially rivers, are more important to the country. Therefore, the most important geographical factors affecting the appearance of the river in arid regions such as spatial and spatial relationships, topography and drainage, geology and soil, vegetation, climate (climate), types of erosion. The results show that the change in the characteristics and natural appearance of rivers over time has caused border disputes and challenged security on both sides of the border.Key words: Iran, border, security, natural factors, river