Iran Dismisses US Allegations of Arms Assistance to Taliban


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The new spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry refuted the “groundless” allegations made by the US secretary of state that Iran is arming the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In a statement on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh rejected as baseless the allegations that the US state secretary has made against Iran on delivering weapons to the Taliban, saying, “What is going on in Afghanistan today is the result of the US’ warmongering acts and interference in the affairs of Afghanistan.”

“The accusations leveled by the state secretary of the United States is sort of shifting the blame onto others and an attempt to divert public opinion of the Afghan people from Washington’s assistance to Daesh (ISIS),” Khatibzadeh added.

“The US has not still given the public opinion an explanation for the nature of the helicopters flying in the airspace of Afghanistan under the control of NATO for supporting Daesh,” he added.  

His comments came after US State Secretary Mike Pompeo accused Iran and Russia of arming the Taliban.

“We’ve made clear we know the history, we know that the Russians have armed the Taliban in the past, right. We know that the Iranians continue to arm them today. So we know these facts,” Pompeo claimed in an interview with Radio Free Europe.