Foreign Ministry Condemns Attack On Iran Consulate In Herat

Tehran, Sept 8, IRNA – Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham condemned attack on Iran’s consulate general in Herat, describing it as unacceptable. She said the local police and security officials should have arrived at the site of the attack immediately in order not to allow the illegal gatherings which resulted in damage to the office take place. She said it was too clear that such incidents would have negative impact on the staff members of the consulate general who are working hard to facilitate legal travel of Afghan nationals to Iran. She further stressed the need to safeguard security of Iran’s representative offices and lives of their staff in Afghanistan and called for taking more serious measures to stop repetition of such incidents. Ms Afkham said that the Afghan ambassador to Iran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday to provide explanations on the attack. According to her, during the meeting the ministry’s deputy for Western Asia affairs expressed Iran’s concern over the possibility of repetition of such incidents and called for taking more serious security measures to stop them. Afghan police clashed Saturday with a group of rioters who tried to take advantage of a calm protest outside Iranian consulate general in Herat to cause turmoil. According to local officials, a number of visa applicants had gathered outside the Iranian consulate general to pursue their request when a violent group some of them carrying arms with prior planning joined them and tried to disrupt the calm protest which resulted in killing of one and injuring of four others. Police detained 10 rioters who had key role in the violence and dispersed the crowd. /end