Agricultural drought remains a fundamental challenge in arid and semi-arid ecosystems such as the Jazmourian basin. This study was conducted to comparatively evaluate the performance of four advanced remote sensing indices (VHI, VDI, VSDI, and TVDI) for monitoring agricultural drought in this region, with a specific emphasis on their lagged response to precipitation. To this end, MODIS satellite products and TRMM gridded precipitation data were utilized over a 22-year period (2001–2022), focusing on the critical month of April. The relationship between these indices and six cumulative and non-cumulative precipitation scenarios was assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation. The results revealed that the Visible and Shortwave Infrared Drought Index (VSDI) exhibited an exceptional correlation coefficient (ρ=0.90, p<0.01) with the two-month cumulative precipitation (March and April), demonstrating superior monitoring capability due to its simultaneous sensitivity to soil and vegetation moisture. Subsequently, the Vegetation Drought Index (VDI) ranked second by effectively reflecting longer-term moisture memory (ρ=0.81 for four-month precipitation). In contrast, the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) showed no significant correlation with any precipitation scenarios due to its instantaneous thermal nature, rendering it an ineffective tool for this specific purpose. Based on the findings, the implementation of VSDI as the primary operational core, supported by VDI as a supplementary index, is strongly recommended for establishing agricultural drought early warning systems in southeastern Iran.