Reza Ardakanian made the remarks in a national conference dubbed “Water Challenges in the East of the Country: What Can the Government and People Do?” which was held in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Ardakanian said that the ‘War Over Water’ debate was initiated almost a quarter century ago by scholars who were affiliated with Zionist regime of Israel.

“In fact, the water conflict began then (a quarter century ago). They brought up the issue to institutionalize fighting over water, but this trend has the potential to not only burn our country, but also the Middle East. If they succeeded, it would become inevitable,” he added.