Iran blames US for troubling fight against drug trafficking

Iran blasted the US for hindering regional and international cooperation to fight against drug trafficking by imposing sanctions against the country as a pioneering state in anti-narcotics campaign.

"Unfortunately, the US unilateral economic sanctions against Iran will leave negative impacts on the process of confronting the drug traffickers and will create problems in regional and international cooperation in this field," Head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Department of International Cooperation for Countering Terrorism and Extremism, Hossein Maleki said, addressing an anti-terrorism conference in Tajikistan on Sunday.

He added that the US should be blamed for the catastrophic results of its antagonistic efforts in international anti-drug campaign.

Maleki reminded Iran's material and moral costs in fight against narcotics, saying that over 4,000 Iranian police forces have been martyred and 12,000 others wounded to enable the country seize 11,000 tons of different types of drugs.

In relevant remarks last Monday, Secretary General of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters Brigadier General Eskandar Momeni announced that 800 tons of trafficked narcotics were annually discovered and seized in the country, noting that a major portion of these cargoes were destined for Europe.

EA