TEHRAN - The Iranian anti-narcotics headquarters has announced readiness to cooperate with the United Nations to offer alternatives to poppy cultivation and production in Afghanistan.

Iran’s efforts to maintain peace and promote sustainable development and security in Afghanistan and in the region prove the claim, Eskandar Momeni, the secretary general of the anti-narcotics headquarters, said.

He made the remarks on Sunday while meeting Markus Potzel, the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the accompanying delegation, ISNA reported.

Representatives of UNAMA offices in Iran, Afghanistan, and some other regional countries, as well as a number of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were present at the meeting.

He also referred to the cooperation of the country with the UN offices, and the implementation of joint plans and measures in combating narcotics.

He went on to announce the country’s (particularly the anti-narcotics headquarters’) willingness to collaborate with the United Nations in this regard.

Potzel, for his part, while appreciating Iran's actions in various regional fields, especially the fight against drugs, asked for Iran’s contribution to the United Nations and its mission to achieve a sustainable solution in combating narcotics.

The front line

Iran is 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.

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.

On average, more than 90 percent of opium discoveries, 27 percent of heroin discoveries, and 59 percent of morphine discoveries in the world are made by Iran, Mohsen Naziri Asl, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna, has said.

some 716 tons of narcotics were discovered and seized in the past Iranian calendar year (March 2022-March 2023), he added.

The flow of narcotics into Iran has decreased by about 15 percent over the past four years, Momeni has said.

The impact of dismantling the financial foundations of drug traffickers has increased by about 10 times over the past three to four years, he said, adding “This has led to a decrease of 15 percent in the entry of drugs into Iran.”

“The rising trend of drug production in Afghanistan started about 20 years ago, after the occupation of Afghanistan by NATO and the United States.

Therefore, the smuggling of narcotics has increased almost 50 times, that is, from about 200 tons in 2000 to more than 9,000 tons,” Momeni said, ISNA reported.

In May, Momeni said some 1,700 regional and international drug gangs were dismantled by Iran in the year 2022.

Momeni signed a memorandum of understanding with Ghada Fathi Waly, the director general of the UNODC on the sidelines of the 66th session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) that was held in Vienna from March 13-17.

MT/MG