Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran reported that two members of the Iranian border guards were killed and two citizens were wounded in armed confrontations between Iranian border guards and Afghan forces in the Makki area on the border between the two countries.

Reuters quoted Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takoor as saying one person had been killed on all sides and "many wounded during the battle".

Afghan and Iranian sources reported that the clashes, which lasted several hours and in which light and heavy weapons were used, stopped, and the clashes broke out earlier on Saturday between the two sides in the Afghan province of Nimroz on the border with Iran.

Iranian state television reported the end of the clashes and a meeting between officials of the two sides to assess the reasons for their outbreak, and footage broadcast on Iranian television showed violent clashes in the border area.

The incident comes in the context of tensions between Afghanistan and Iran over the distribution of water from the Helmand River, which the latter accuses Kabul of violating a 1973 agreement by reducing the flow of water from the river to Iran's drought-ridden eastern regions, which Afghanistan has denied.

Kabul denied Tehran's accusations that it was preventing the flow of water from the Helmand River to Iran (Al Jazeera)

Mutual accusations

The two sides had exchanged accusations about responsibility for the start of the shooting, with an Afghan military source confirming to Al Jazeera that Iranian forces fired mortar shells at the old airport of the city of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz.

Brigadier General Qassem Rezaei, deputy commander of Iran's police, accused Taliban forces of firing at Iranian border guards in the city of Zabul in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province.

An Afghan official told Al Jazeera that authorities had closed the Silk Bridge border crossing in Nimroz province with Iran after the clashes.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran reported that the Department of Roads and Land Transport in Sistan and Baluchestan province in southeastern Iran decided to close the Milk border crossing with Afghanistan until further notice.

Iran's deputy police chief said the police command had ordered border guards to respond strictly to "any aggression" on the border between the two countries.

Rezaei called on Afghanistan's interim government to take responsibility for "any ill-considered act that violates international laws and norms".

Iran shares a border with Afghanistan of more than 900 kilometers, and Tehran does not recognize the government formed by the Taliban after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in August 2021.

Last week, Iran warned that it "reserves the right to take the necessary measures" as its dispute with Afghanistan over the dam on the Helmand River escalates.

The Helmand River originates in central Afghanistan in the province of the same name and runs for more than a thousand kilometers to Lake Hamun on the border with Iran.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had previously said in a tweet that Kabul was "committed to meeting its commitments" but noted that water levels had fallen as a result of "severe drought".

Mujahid added that "inappropriate statements" issued by the Iranian side in this regard could harm relations between the two countries and should therefore be "not repeated."

Earlier this month, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned Afghanistan against ignoring his country's water rights under the 1973 agreement.