'Iran has fulfilled its duty in war on drugs'

"The growing rate of money laundering in the West is quite disturbing, particularly because of its newly disclosed links with the drug crisis in Afghanistan," Mottaki said in Tehran on Tuesday during a meeting with Antonino De Leo, the coordinator of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) office in Iran.

Mottaki said the Iranian government is doing everything in its power to stem the flow of drugs from Afghanistan, but some countries, like Britain, have failed to fulfill their responsibilities with regard to the issue and have even exacerbated the problem.

"As a leading donor nation to Afghanistan, Iran has contributed greatly to counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan," he added.

"Over the years, the country has lost more than four thousand Iranian security personnel in its campaign against drugs," he noted. "We have met our obligation and have made significant progress."

Iran lies on a transit corridor between opium-producing Afghanistan and drug dealers in Europe. To counter drug trafficking, the Iranian government has deployed thousands of security personnel along its eastern borders and has erected over 1,000 kilometers of embankments, canals, trenches, and cement walls.

UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa has praised Iran for its efforts to stem the flow of drugs from Afghanistan to the West.

“The anti-narcotics police in Iran are among the best in the world,” he said in May 2009.

/Press TV/