Iranian Delegation to Visit Afghanistan on Border Incident
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian delegation is visiting Kabul on Tuesday for talks on a recent incident at the common border that resulted in the deaths of Afghan migrants trying to cross into Iran illegally.
The Iranian delegation is chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand, and includes an assistant to the foreign minister and a representative of the Iranian Border Police.
It is reportedly going to provide evidence that the incident involving the deaths of Afghan migrants did not take place inside Iran.
In early May, Afghan news media claimed that about 50 Afghan migrants crossing into Iran illegally had been beaten and thrown into a river.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman affirmed later that the incident had taken place on Afghan soil, saying, “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Border Police has denied that any happening in relation to this has taken place on the soil of our country.”
“Considering the significance of the issue and in order to obtain detailed information about how the incident occurred on Afghan soil, we have been probing into the issue in cooperation with the officials of that country (Afghanistan),” the spokesman said.
Later, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and caretaker of the Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan Hanif Atmar agreed on the formation of a joint delegation to investigate the incident at the common border.