Iran on Tuesday summoned Afghanistan’s envoy in Tehran over attacks the previous day on Iranian diplomatic missions in the neighboring country, state media in Iran reported.
According to the reports, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires in protest over Monday’s attacks on the Iranian Embassy in Kabul and the Iranian Consulate in Herat, where protests had turned aggressive. In Herat, angry Afghan protesters pelted the consulate with rocks.
The ministry demanded that Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers provide the missions with full security and said they stopped working until further notice. On Monday, ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said more needed to be done by the Taliban to ensure security to Iranian missions.
Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency said Monday protesters were brought to the consulate in Herat from nearby rural areas and they threw stones at gates and windows of the building. It said Taliban forces dispersed the protesters by shooting into the air and blamed the rally on pro-Western groups in Afghanistan.
In the Afghan capital of Kabul, about 20 demonstrators gathered outside the Iranian Embassy shouting "death to Iran” to protest the videos, which have gone viral.
In recent weeks, unverified videos purporting to show Afghan refugees being tortured in Iran have been published on social media, angering many Afghans. Iran has denied the accusations.
Iran hosts millions of Afghan refugees. Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the number of Afghans in Iran has jumped to 5 million, from nearly 4 million before the Taliban took power last August.
