Iran, Oman to boost security cooperation

Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar says Tehran is ready to expand its cooperation in security-related fields with its neighboring country Oman.

“In addition to fighting drug [trafficking], fighting terrorism and organized crime are of special importance and we are ready to offer our experience and promote necessary cooperation,” Mohammad-Najjar said in a meeting with Oman’s Inspector-General of Police and Customs Lt. Gen. Malik bin Sulaiman al Maamari on Sunday.

Mohammad-Najjar arrived in Oman’s capital of Muscat on Sunday for a two-day visit to hold talks with senior Omani officials on ways to tighten security and improve bilateral cooperation.

The Iranian minister was welcomed by his Omani counterpart Saud bin Ibrahim al-Busaidi upon his arrival in Muscat.

“Iran and Oman could cooperate on fighting drug [trafficking], preventing addiction [to drugs] and treating addicts,” IRNA quoted Mohammad-Najjar as saying.

Mohammad-Najjar said drug trafficking is not restricted to one country. It is rather a threat to the region and the entire world, he added.

The Iranian interior minister said that Iran’s counternarcotics operations have cost the country the lives of more than 3,700 of its forces.

Afghanistan accounts for 90 percent of the world’s illicit opium and heroin production, the UN drugs monitoring body said in its 2010 report.

The poppy production and drug business in Afghanistan has come at a heavy cost for neighboring Iran.

With a 900-kilometer (560-mile) common border with Afghanistan, Iran has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to drug dealers in Europe.

Mohammad-Najjar is also scheduled to hold talks with Omani King Sultan Qaboos on Sunday.