Iranian committing more crimes against Afghans

Noura Bendari

Iran ran into a major crisis in May this year after Iranian border guards killed Afghan nationals in an area near the border with Afghanistan.

This crisis compounds the problems the Islamic Republic has been facing since the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January this year.

The two events bring to the surface a dangerous trait of Iran’s mullahs: they never regret the crimes they commit.

Iranian border guards forced Afghan nationals to jump into the sea as they prevented them crossing into Iran. Dozens of Afghan nationals died as a result.

Protests erupted outside the Iranian embassy in Afghan capital Kabul on June 7. The demonstrators criticized Tehran and called for closing down the Iranian embassy in Afghanistan.

This event featured highly in talks in Tehran between the Afghan and Iranian foreign ministers on June 21.

The two foreign ministers also discussed economic, health and media cooperation. They also discussed the conditions of Afghan nationals in Iran.

At the end of their talks, the two ministers signed a comprehensive cooperation pact.

Iranian-Afghan demands

Iran refuses to denounce those who carried out the aforementioned crime against the Afghan nationals. It even warns Afghanistan against media attacks against Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned against what he described as “dishonest” activities that seek to undermine cooperation between Tehran and Kabul.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry asked Iran to bring those responsible for the death of the Afghan citizens to account. It said it presented all the documents proving the involvement of Iranian border guards in the crime to Iran.

However, Iran said its border guards had nothing to do with the death of the Afghan citizens.