TEHRAN -- Iran on Monday said it regards Afghanistan’s security as its own and will not tolerate unrest in the neighboring country.
“We carefully control and monitor the situation at the borders. We assess the situation and will continue to do so,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.
He made it clear that the only way to reach peace in Afghanistan is for the warring sides to engage each other through dialogue. He also said Iran has launched an initiative of hosting intra-Afghan talks and will continue the process.
“We are actively in contact with Afghan groups. We are ready to continue this in-person process. We hence welcome and contribute to any relative initiative,” the spokesman added.
The Taliban militant group says it has seized 85 percent of the Afghan territory, a declaration government officials have dismissed as part of a propaganda campaign.
Iranian officials have said the Iran-Afghanistan border areas are in full security, after the Taliban claimed that they had captured the war-torn country’s main conduit for trade with Iran.
“Borders of the Islamic Republic of Iran are in full tranquility and security due to the zealous border guards of our country, and there is no insecurity on our country’s border with Afghanistan,” Khatibzadeh said on July 9.
Earlier this month, Tehran hosted a new round of intra-Afghan talks between the country’s government and the Taliban in the hope of a better future for Afghanistan.
A senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Monday the U.S. wreaked havoc instead of helping Afghanistan’s development, and finally left the country with humiliation.
Ali Akbar Velayati addressed a one-day webinar themed “Afghanistan, Peace, and Sustainable Security,” which was held here attended by a number of Afghan elites and intellectual figures.
“Instead of development and prosperity, the U.S. wreaked havoc and committed horrendous crimes in Afghanistan and despite its primary delusions, is now leaving the country of dignified Mujahedeen with humiliation and ignominy,” Velayati said.
The U.S., he said, still seeks to cause more destruction and sow discord among the noble Afghan people through evil acts of provocation,” but the Afghan elites and intellectual figures are aware of such malicious objectives and will foil these plots.”
Velayati, who chairs the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening, said Iran has always called for fostering unity and amity among the Afghan people, who have played a leading role in the Islamic civilization in the past.
He reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Afghan people in their efforts to promote peace, security and development.
“The Afghan people have always showed resistance against all acts of aggression and extremism, and armed-to-the-teeth military forces of the West and East have suffered defeat in the face of their will and resistance.”
Khatibzadeh also strongly denounced Israeli violence against

Palestinian worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying the regime has left no choice for Palestinians but to put up resistance against such aggression.
“The aggression occurring on the eve of Eid al-Adha is strongly condemned, and Iran expresses its disgust at the approach,” he said.
Khatibzadeh said Iran will continue to make every effort to prevent such acts of violence and aggression, noting that the united voice of the Islamic world can be helpful.
On the recent opening of the Emirati embassy in Tel Aviv, Khatibzadeh said the occupying regime of Israel assumes that it can gain some legitimacy for itself through such acts while it is indeed at the nadir of its legitimacy.
He said Israel, as a regime that has been the source of violence and terror in the region for decades, cannot gain any legitimacy through such acts.
“The United Arab Emirates should know that they are responsible for the unrest and for what would happen in this region due to the presence of the regime occupying Al-Quds,” the spokesman added.
On Sunday morning, over 1,500 settlers accompanied by Knesset members, and backed by Israeli forces, broke into the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and injured dozens of Palestinian worshipers.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, dozens of Israeli police officers raided the site and cleared the way for hundreds of settlers, who broke into the courtyards once it had been almost completely emptied of Muslim worshipers.
In recent years, there has been a sharp spike in acts of aggression committed by Israeli settlers against the Palestinians throughout the occupied territories.
Settlers, protected by Zionist forces, regularly break into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and attack Palestinian worshipers.