The Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic has emphasized the necessity of clarifying the circumstances surrounding the attack on Iran’s consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif on the 27th anniversary of the incident.
The ministry’s statement declared that “this terrorist attack represents one of the most heinous violations of international law in the realm of diplomatic relations.”
In the incident on August 8, 1998, following the Taliban’s capture of Mazar-i-Sharif, eight Iranian diplomats and one journalist were killed in an armed attack on the Islamic Republic’s consulate.
The Taliban did not claim responsibility for the massacre at that time, and to this day, the Islamic Republic has refrained from explicitly naming the Taliban as the perpetrators in its official statements.
This comes as the Islamic Republic has established close relations with the Taliban since their return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Over the past four years, officials from both sides have held numerous meetings, and recently, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian announced his readiness to visit Afghanistan to “open a new chapter in relations.”
