Iran urges aid for its anti-drug role

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says Tehran's measures to fight narcotics serve the interests of the international community, urging global aid for the anti-drug campaign. Iran's efforts in the fight against drug trade serve not only the interests of the Iranian nation but also benefit the international community, said Salehi in a Tuesday meeting with Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in the Austrian capital of Vienna. He called for more international assistance and resources that are proportional to the extent of Iran's rigorous anti-narcotics measures and stated that Tehran and UNODC maintain a sound cooperation, IRNA reported. The Iranian minister expressed concerns over the persistent climb in the cultivation of drugs in Afghanistan despite the presence of Western forces in the country and their claims of fighting narcotics. Fedotov, for his part, said Iran plays a “very strategic” role in the campaign against drug smuggling. In March, Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar and the UNODC executive director inked the accord to enhance cooperation against drug-related crimes. The poppy cultivation and illicit drug trade in Afghanistan has come at a heavy cost to neighboring Iran. With a 900-kilometer (560-mile) common border with Afghanistan, Iran has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe. The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 3,700 Iranian police officers over the past 30 years. Iran has spent more than $700 millions to seal its borders and prevent the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries. Tehran has called on the United Nations and the European countries to support the anti-narcotics measures of the Islamic Republic.