Water levels at Iraq’s vast Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted as a result of dwindling rains and further damming upstream, hitting millions of inhabitants already impacted by drought with stricter water rationing.Amid these conditions, visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s.Dukan Lake has been left three quarters empty, with its director Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq explaining its reserves currently stand at around 1.6 billion cubic metres of water out of a possible seven billion. That is “about 24 percent” of its capacity, the official said, adding that the level of water in the lake had not been so low in roughly 20 years. Satellite imagery analysed by AFP shows the lake’s surface area shrank by 56 percent between the end of May 2019, the last year it was completely full, and the beginning of June 2025.Tawfeeq blamed climate change and a “shortage of rainfall” explaining that the timing of the rains had also become irregular.Over the winter season, Tawfeeq said the Dukan region received 220 millimetres (8.7 inches) of rain, compared to a typical 600 millimetres.- ‘Harvest failed’ -Upstream damming of the Little Zab River, which flows through Iran and feeds Dukan, was a secondary cause of the falling water levels, Tawfeeq explained. Also buffeted by drought, Iran has built dozens of structures on the river to increase its own water reserves. Baghdad has criticised these kinds of dams, built both by Iran and neighbouring Turkey, accusing them of significantly restricting water flow into Iraq via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.Iraq, and its 46 million inhabitants, have been intensely impacted by the effects of climate change, experiencing rising temperatures, year-on-year droughts and rampant desertification.At the end of May, the country’s total water reserves were at their lowest level in 80 years.On the slopes above Dukan lies the village of Sarsian, where Hussein Khader Sheikhah, 57, was planting a summer crop on a hectare of land.The farmer said he hoped a short-term summer crop of the kind typically planted in the area for an autumn harvest — cucumbers, melons, chickpeas, sunflower seeds and beans — would help him offset some of the losses over the winter caused by drought.In winter, in another area near the village, he planted 13 hectares mainly of wheat.”The harvest failed because of the lack of rain,” he explained, adding that he lost an equivalent of almost $5,700 to the poor yield.”I can’t make up for the loss of 13 hectares with just one hectare near the river,” he added.- ‘Stricter rationing’ – The water shortage at Dukan has affected around four million people downstream in the neighbouring Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk governorates, including their access to drinking water.For more than a month, water treatment plants in Kirkuk have been trying to mitigate a sudden, 40 percent drop in the supplies reaching them, according to local water resource official Zaki Karim.In a country ravaged by decades of conflict, with crumbling infrastructure and floundering public policies, residents already receive water intermittently.The latest shortages are forcing even “stricter rationing” and more infrequent water distributions, Karim said.In addition to going door-to-door to raise awareness about water waste, the authorities were also cracking down on illegal access to the water networkIn the province of roughly two million inhabitants, the aim is to minimise the impact on the provincial capital of Kirkuk.”If some treatment plants experience supply difficulties, we will ensure that there are no total interruptions, so everyone can receive their share,” Karim said.burx-str-tgg/feb/csp/tc/jsa

Israel claimed on Saturday it has already set back Iran’s presumed nuclear programme by at least two years, a day after US President Donald Trump warned that Tehran has a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes.Trump has been mulling whether to involve the United States in Israel’s bombing campaign, indicating in his latest comments that he could take a decision before the two week deadline he set this week.Israel said Saturday its air force had launched fresh air strikes against missile storage and launch sites in central Iran, as it kept up a wave of attacks it says are aimed at preventing its rival from developing nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran has denied.”According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar said in an interview published Saturday.Saar said Israel’s week-long onslaught would continue. “We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat,” he told German newspaper Bild.Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday and urged him to resume talks with the United States that had been derailed by Israel’s attacks.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said “we invited the Iranian minister to consider negotiations with all sides, including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes, which we also hope for.”But Araghchi told NBC News after the meeting that “we’re not prepared to negotiate with them (the United States) anymore, as long as the aggression continues.” Trump was dismissive of European diplomacy efforts, telling reporters, “Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”Trump also said he’s unlikely to ask Israel to stop its attacks to get Iran back to the table.”If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do,” he said. Any US involvement would likely feature powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses to destroy an underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordo.On the streets of Tehran, many shops were closed and normally busting markets largely abandoned on Friday.- 450 missiles – A US-based NGO, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, said on Friday based on its sources and media reports that at least 657 people have been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians.Iran has not updated its tolls since Sunday, when it said that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.Since Israel launched its offensive on June 13, targeting nuclear and military sites but also hitting residential areas, Iran has responded with barrages which Israeli authorities say have killed at least 25 people.A hospital in the Israeli port of Haifa reported 19 wounded, including one person in a serious condition, after the latest Iranian salvo.Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate said more than 450 missiles have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted military sites and air force bases.- ‘Madness’ -Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of Iran’s nuclear programme, questioning in particular the country’s accelerated uranium enrichment. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent.However, it added that there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.The agency’s chief Rafael Grossi told CNN it was “pure speculation” to say how long it would take Iran to develop weapons.Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the conflict was at a “perilous moment” and it was “hugely important that we don’t see regional escalation”.Araghchi arrived in Istanbul on Saturday according to the Tasnim news agency, for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the Iran-Israel conflict.Switzerland announced it was temporarily closing its embassy in Tehran, adding that it would continue to fulfil its role representing US interests in Iran.burs-ser/ami/kir/gv/acb/tc/mtp