Taliban, Tehran to Launch Talks to Contain Border Tensions

Iran's flag is pictured at the Milak border crossing between Iran and Afghanistan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran September 8, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran's flag is pictured at the Milak border crossing between Iran and Afghanistan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran September 8, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Taliban, Tehran to Launch Talks to Contain Border Tensions

Iran's flag is pictured at the Milak border crossing between Iran and Afghanistan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran September 8, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran's flag is pictured at the Milak border crossing between Iran and Afghanistan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran September 8, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

ran and the Taliban agreed on Tuesday to hold talks soon to contain border tensions, while the Iranian National Security Council denied reports of sending tanks and armored vehicles to borders.

A state of alert was raised by the Taliban and Iran against the backdrop of skirmishes that took place at the end of last week.

Iranian media released video footage of trucks loaded with tanks and military vehicles heading for armored brigades in the 88th Corps, which is stationed in the city of Zahedan, the center of Balochistan province.

The Iranian “Khabar Online” website verified the footage of Iranian authorities ramping up deployment near borders with Afghanistan.

Later, Nour News, the platform of the National Security Council, stated that “the eastern borders are completely safe.”

The platform described circulated footage of troops sent to the Afghan border as “old and irrelevant,” noting that the situation is “completely normal.”

Nour News pointed out that the deployment of border guard units is “in accordance with their routine tasks in maintaining border security.” It noted that mediation is underway with the Afghan border guards to clear up misunderstandings.

The website accused those circulating the footage on social networks of attempting to suggest the existence of a crisis.

Iranian Deputy Ambassador to Kabul Hassan Mortazavi had held talks with Shabir Ahmad, head of the Ministry of Defense working group and head of the Taliban working group tasked with organizing shared border affairs with Iran.

It was also decided that the four-member Afghan delegation would meet with Iranian officials in one of the capitals or at the shared border after Eid al-Fitr to resolve border issues.

Regarding the presence of some Taliban forces on the shared border with Iran, Shabir Ahmad said that Taliban government officials, especially the Minister of Defense, had ordered that no one was allowed to stir any conflict on the Iranian border and that military deployment on the shared border was prohibited.



North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
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North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told Russia's top diplomat his country was ready to “unconditionally support” all actions taken by Moscow to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, state media has reported, as the two countries held high-level strategic talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is on a three-day visit to North Korea, which has provided troops and arms for Russia's war with Ukraine and pledged more military support as Moscow tries to make advances in the conflict, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Kim met Lavrov in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan where the two countries' foreign ministers held their second strategic dialogue, pledging further cooperation under a partnership treaty signed last year that includes a mutual defense pact.

Kim told Lavrov the steps taken by the allies in response to radically evolving global geopolitics will contribute greatly to securing peace and security around the world, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported.

“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis,” KCNA said.

Earlier, Russia's foreign ministry said Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where he described the two nations' relations as “an invincible fighting brotherhood.”

The ministry quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit represented the continuation of “strategic dialogue” between the two sides inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last year.

In a message passed on by Lavrov, Putin said that he hoped for more direct contacts in future, TASS news agency reported.

Lavrov, the ministry said, also thanked North Korea for the troops it had sent to Russia.

Relations between the two countries deepened during the conflict in Ukraine.

Thousands of North Korean troops were deployed during the months-long campaign to oust Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region, while Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with munitions.

Lavrov also met with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, TASS reported.