VIENNA (Dispatches) -- Iran’s permanent representative to Vienna-based international organizations says Tehran bears the brunt of fighting narcotics trafficking without much help from the rest of the world.
“Yesterday, 3 police officers were martyred in Iran in a clash with drug traffickers,” Kazem Gharibabadi tweeted on Thursday, a day after two others were injured in a clash with drug traffickers in Kahnuj in southeastern Kerman.
“In the absence of dedicated effort, the Europeans have to go after every gram of narcotics on their streets. Countering world drug problem requires shared responsibility by all,” Gharibabadi added.
Iran, sitting on a major drug trafficking route between Afghanistan on the one side and Europe and the Persian Gulf Arab states on the other side, has been a pioneer in fighting drug trafficking despite losing thousands of its security forces in clashes with drug traffickers as well as the heavy costs of the fight against narcotics.
Last month, Tehran announced that narcotics seizure at Iranian border crossings and airport gateways had increased by 523% in the quarter to May 21 against the same quarter in 2020.
Iran’s embassy in Austria, in marking the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls on June 26, strongly criticized Western countries, as the main destination of narcotics seized by Iran, for their little support for the costly fight.
“Iran is at the forefront of the fight against illicit drug trafficking, which mainly enters Europe, while Iran receives little support for this costly fight,” the Iranian mission said in a tweet.
During a speech on the occasion, Gharibabadi said Western countries are not serious enough in confronting drug trafficking despite being the main destinations

for the narcotics passing through Iran.
Back in March, the Iranian envoy said the unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran by Western countries, especially the United States, are hampering the Islamic Republic’s fight against drug trafficking.
The imposition of unilateral sanctions, according to Gharibabadi, has proved an obstacle to Iran’s fight against narcotics and the country’s efforts to boost its capabilities and its anti-narcotics campaign.
Iranian officials have time and again censured Western states over their antagonistic policies toward the Islamic Republic, whereas Iran protects them by halting the flow of narcotics into their territories.
In remarks in November 2020, Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi said the United Nations hypocritically praises Iran’s performance and sincerity in fighting narcotics while at the same time issuing anti-Iran resolutions.
Raisi also pointed out that if Iran holds back, “all Europe and America will be swallowed up by narcotics.”
“Our youth stand up to drug trafficking and drug rings by their self-sacrifice and we are the victims of this problem, and indeed it is a strange phenomenon that they pass resolutions against us instead of being thankful,” he said.