Iran press/Europe:Dehqani made the comments in a meeting with Undersecretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yuri Fedotov in Russia.
The Iranian official has traveled to Russia to participate in an international conference on countering weapons supplies to terrorists reported IRNA.
He added that Iran had been at the frontline of the war against drug smugglers over the past decades and has lost many of its forces.
He described the increase in narcotics production in neighboring Afghanistan and activities of smugglers to transport them abroad as serious threats to the security of Iran and other countries.
Dehqani pointed to the close link between drug trafficking and terrorism, saying that today one of the main sources of financing of terrorism is drug trafficking, especially in our region.
He said that efforts by only one country to combat this phenomenon is not sufficient; it requires strong international support and cooperation between countries.
The UN official said that UNODC will attempt to meet Iran’s concerns about drug trafficking from Afghanistan.
Fedotov and Dehqani discussed ways to promote bilateral cooperation on the fight against narcotics smuggling and terrorist activities in the region.
On Jul 1 2018 ,Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli criticised the European countries for their lack of assistance to Iran's drug campaign.
"I always tell the European officials at international circles that they claim to be against money-laundering, but the turnover of drug money in their banks stands at $50bln", Iranian Interior Minister added.
Rahmani Fazli said that drugs, refugees and terrorism are international problems and the international bodies should actively help those countries which are in the frontline of such wars, including Iran.
The anti-drug squads of the Iranian Law Enforcement Police have intensified their countrywide campaign against drug-trafficking through staging long-term systematic operations since 2010.
The Iranian police officials maintain that drug production in Afghanistan has undergone a 40-fold increase since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
Earlier on July 15,2018 ,The official in charge of fighting drug trafficking at Iran's embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan has emphasised that Iran and Afghanistan work very closely, and share intelligence reports, in the fight against drugs and narcotics
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.
Despite high economic and human costs, Iran has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades.
The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
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