IRANIAN SECURITY OFFICIALS have reportedly seized 4,465 kilograms of narcotics in the Tehran area.
Police chief Akbar Shahi told the government-controlled FARS News agency that the drugs - including crack, hashish and opium, were confiscated from nine smugglers in the cities of Karak and Robat-Karim.
 Iran's eastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan is considered one of the world's most active drug smuggling routes. Indeed, the Islamic Republic has spent at least $600 million excavating canals, building barriers and installing barbed wire in an effort to prevent smugglers from entering the country.
Nevertheless, Iranian officials seized more than 1,000 tons of opium over the past year. The opium reportedly originated in Afghanistan, which is often described as the single largest producer of opium poppy.
Iran has repeatedly criticised NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan for failing to "contain poppy cultivation and opium production." It should be noted that former Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged to stop the export of heroin when detailing the UK's participation in the war against the Taliban.
"We act also because al Qaida network and the Taliban regime are funded in large part on the drugs trade. 90 per cent of all the heroin sold on British streets originates from Afghanistan. Stopping that trade is, again, directly in our interest," said Blair during a 2001 speech.
According to GlobalSecurity, illegal drugs threaten to undermine "all aspects" of the Afghanistan's efforts to build a sustainable economic infrastructure and functioning democracy.
"The illicit opium trade is the one economic activity that not only survived, but flourished, during and after the war. Now it accounts for more than half of GDP and is said to involve corrupt government officials at every level. Tribal warlords control the poppy-growing areas, using the proceeds to fund their militias and arms purchases. A successful counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan hinges on maintaining security, building public capacity, attaining local support and actively pursuing our joint counternarcotics strategy," explained the organisation's website.
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