Iran urges more US efforts in fighting drugs

Iran’s Ali Asghar Soltanieh, who is chairing the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting in Vienna, has called on the US and Europe to step up efforts to tackle drug trafficking in the region.

Soltanieh said on Monday a “collective sense of duty” was needed from all countries to fight drug trafficking which he described as “one weapon of mass destruction” and “a threat destroying the foundation of families.”

“Those countries which have been directly or indirectly affected by this (problem), including European, the United States or other countries, they have to exercise and show maximum cooperation and feel the shared responsibility,” said Soltanieh, who is Iran’s envoy to UN organizations.

US envoy to the CND Glyn Davies said he had met with Soltanieh on Friday, and added that Washington was prepared to work with Iran on tackling global drug flows.

“We are very happy to work with the chair even if he is from a country which we have differences with.”

Soltanieh confirmed the meeting with Davies but said he met the US envoy only as CND chairman, adding that the meeting did not constitute a bilateral meeting.

He added that he did not expect the delegation sent from Tehran would meet with US officials during the week-long summit.

Soltanieh said Iran’s cooperation with Afghanistan and Pakistan in fighting drug trafficking had been successful and that it could be the base for wider cooperation.

Afghan-grown poppies fuel a $65 billion heroin and opium market that supplies millions of addicts.