Ruhollah Latifi said on Tuesday that the exchange of commodities through the land border crossings with Afghanistan is in progress after the common border was locked for a few days.
He explained that while the recent conflicts involving the Taliban had broken out on the Afghan soil, the Iranian organizations and offices at the border kept working normally in accordance with the international conventions and laws.
On the process of imports from Afghanistan, the spokesman said since the merchants, their shipments and the trucks are all Afghan, the Afghan business people are free to choose whether or not to cross the border. “If the documents of the commodities are complete, we will allow them to cross our borders.”
According to Latifi, not only has the volume of trade exchanges with Afghanistan not declined in recent weeks, but it has even increased.
He said the trade exchanges with Afghanistan via the Mahirood border crossing in Iran’s eastern province of South Khorasan have risen dramatically, linking the increase to lower clashes on the Afghan soil in that region.
At present, 48 percent of the total trade exchanges between Iran and Afghanistan is carried out through the Mahirood border crossing, up from only 30% in the past, he added.
Latifi went on to say that while the business people’s concerns about military clashes in Herat have decreased the trade exchanges via Dogharoon border crossing by 50 percent, still around 200 trucks cross that border crossing every day.
In the last month, the Taliban overran Afghan areas bordering five countries.
The Taliban says they are in control of 85 percent of Afghanistan after seizing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan.