TEHRAN — Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi has announced that Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister is scheduled to visit Tehran on Sunday.

Mohammad Hanif Atmar is scheduled to come to Iran as head of a high-ranking political, economic, and security delegation, Mehr reported.

During his stay in Iran, Atmar is set to hold talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and other officials, Mousavi said.

Various issues including economic cooperation, border-related issues, foreign nationals, media, security, health, water, and energy fields will be discussed by the two sides, he added.

It comes a week after Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Afghan Ambassador Abdolghafour Lival over actions of certain anti-Iran groups in Afghanistan.

Certain groups have a record in opposition to Iran and the good neighborliness, the ministry said.

Rasoul Mousavi, an assistant to Iran’s foreign minister and the director-general of the Foreign Ministry Department for West Asia, expressed concerns over effects of these groups’ actions on relations between the two countries.

Certain groups have recently attacked the Iranian embassy in Kabul under the pretext that some Afghan migrants were drowned while they were trying to enter Iran.

It followed reports claiming that about 50 Afghan migrants crossing into Iran illegally had been beaten and thrown into a river. Iranian political and border officials have refuted the claim, saying the incident happened on the Afghan side of the border.

Iran has said it has extensive evidence that the incident has not happened on its borders.

Earlier this month, Mousavi said nationals of some countries try to enter Iran illegally, adding that Iranian police will not never allow such acts which are related to the country’s national security.

“For every country, the country’s security, border security, fighting drug [trafficking], terrorism and human trafficking are important,” Mousavi stated.

“Regardless of our relations, it’s natural that the police would not tolerate such acts,” the spokesman said. “In recent incidents, we witnessed that some nationals of neighboring and non-neighboring countries were trying to enter the country illegally.”

MH/PA