TEHRAN – Russia has announced readiness to cooperate with Iran to deal with producing and smuggling of narcotics in Afghanistan, Mohammad Masoud Zahedian, deputy chief of the Iranian anti-narcotics police, has said.

“Strengthening the fight against drug trafficking in Afghanistan is very vital. So, regional countries and extra-regional countries should take steps in this direction,” IRNA quoted Zahedian as saying.

Considering that Afghanistan is the largest producer of narcotics in the world, supporting the fight by any country can be very effective, he stressed.

In other words, the more the cooperation goes towards practical actions and assistance and is far from the level of paper agreements, the more its effects will be in the practical field, he highlighted.

Benefiting from organizations such as ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization can have valuable effects in the field of dealing with drug trafficking, he concluded.

The fight against narcotics is very expensive due to the complexity of the mafia level of this business, a cost that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been paying alone for years despite the support claims of the international community.

Iran is also known as the first station and the front line of dealing with all kinds of drugs due to its location on the European transit route of Afghan drugs.

Some 1,080 tons of narcotics were discovered in the country over the Iranian calendar year 1400 (March 2021-March 2022), an increase of 14 percent year on year.

Europe is the largest customer of narcotics. According to official and unofficial reports, more than 70 percent of the drugs produced in Afghanistan are sent to European countries for various purposes.

Statistics show that 92 percent of opium drug discoveries are made by and in Iran, which shows the heavy weight of the country to keep not only the region but the world safe.

During the 65th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs which took place in March 2022 in Vienna, Austria, Eskandar Momeni, the secretary general of the anti-narcotics headquarters called on the United

Nations to present a comprehensive and effective action plan to curb opium cultivation and production and to address the destructive problem of narcotics.

Criticizing that despite numerous UN documents and the constant emphasis on the principle of shared responsibility, Iran has had the least amount of international support, despite its global anti-narcotics actions, hosting more than a few million refugees and fighting terrorist threats in the region, he noted that it is time for the United Nations to present a comprehensive and effective action plan to curb opium cultivation and production to address the devastating problem of narcotics.

MG