TEHRAN- In a telephone conversation with his Afghan counterpart on Wednesday morning, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed Iran’s readiness to help peace negotiations in Afghanistan. 

The two sides exchanged views on many issues including Afghanistan’s peace process, the need to continue the intra-Afghan talks without any foreign interference, preserving the achievements of the past 18 years, and Iran’s readiness to help the Afghanistan peace negotiations, according to a statement issued by Iran’s Foreign Ministry. 

Zarif also discussed with Hanif Atmar, the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, the issue of finalizing a comprehensive agreement between Iran and Afghanistan. 

Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on the call, saying that Iran expressed readiness to host the Afghanistan peace talks. 

According to the Afghan statement, the two sides exchanged views on a broad range of issues including strengthening regional and international consensus on the peace, reducing hostilities, releasing the remaining prisoners, and the decisions made by the Loya Jirga, a consultative system made up of high-ranking Afghan figures.

The call came days after reports in the U.S. media accused Iran of offering bounties to the Taliban for targeting American and coalition forces in Afghanistan, a claim that Iran firmly denied. 

SM/PA