Azerbaijan, Baku, July 3/Trend M. Moezzi
Iran is aiming to form a joint committee with Iraq to help speed up the removal of the Iran-Iraq War debris left behind in the Arvand River.
the Foreign Ministry is coordinating the effort with Iraq, Fars news agency reports.
The eight-year war between the two neighbors littered the Arvand River with the hulls of sunken vessels. 24 years after the war's end, the debris at the bottom of the river is a source of real danger for shipping in the Khor Musa and Arvand waterway.
Although Iran has cleaned up parts of the river on its own, its says Iraq's cooperation is needed to finish the job.
Preliminary hydrography operations are going on in the Arvand right now, said Seyed Ataollah Sadr, the managing director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO). After the river has been mapped, different areas of the Arvand will be cleaned before the final phase of dredging begins.