It was conceived as a joint project with the Soviet Union and both sides reached an agreement in October 1977.

[6] During construction, several Bronze Age sites were discovered, including the grave of a Saka-Scythian warrior.

[7][8] The dam's power plant has an installed capacity of 102 megawatts (137,000 hp) and is designed to irrigate 75,000 hectares (190,000 acres).

Later that day Raisi, his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other high-ranking Iranian officials died in a helicopter crash on their way to Tabriz.

[10] The Khoda Afarin Reservoir was reported to hold 503 million m3 of water, at 40% of its total capacity.