عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Iran Denies Involvement in Political Assassinations during Tajikistan Civil War

Tajik border guards checking identification documents of people crossing the Tajik-Afghan border on a bridge across the Panj River outside the city of Panj, August 2010. (AFP)
Tajik border guards checking identification documents of people crossing the Tajik-Afghan border on a bridge across the Panj River outside the city of Panj, August 2010. (AFP)
TT
TT

Iran Denies Involvement in Political Assassinations during Tajikistan Civil War

Tajik border guards checking identification documents of people crossing the Tajik-Afghan border on a bridge across the Panj River outside the city of Panj, August 2010. (AFP)
Tajik border guards checking identification documents of people crossing the Tajik-Afghan border on a bridge across the Panj River outside the city of Panj, August 2010. (AFP)

Tehran rejected on Thursday accusations that it played a role in the civil war in Tajikistan in the 1990s, saying that the claims are “aimed at ruining the bilateral ties between the two countries.”

In a documentary aired by state television on Wednesday, three Tajik nationals attested to receiving training in Iran before assassinating political and prominent figures during the 1992-97 war. They also confessed to attacking a Russian military base in the Asian country.

The Iranian embassy in Tajikistan issued a statement on Thursday deeming the accusations as “baseless”, reported Reuters.

"The airing of such biased films... shows that certain circles do not want to see... stronger friendship between the two countries," it said.

It noted that the Tajik Minister of Energy had attended the swearing in ceremony of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday.

The documentary accused Tehran of being involved in the assassination of a parliament speaker, grand mufti, and a number of academics, journalists and politicians during the war.

The embassy statement said that Tehran had mediated between the warring parties in Tajikistan to end the war between the government forces and extremist-led armed opposition.

But ties between the two nations, both Persian-speaking and predominantly Muslim, have been strained since a leader of a banned Tajik extremist party attended a conference in Tehran in December 2015, which angered the government in Dushanbe.

The confessions mark the first public accusation against Iran of meddling in the Tajikistan civil war and diplomatic circles said that ties between the two countries had deteriorated two years ago.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications," the newspaper wrote.

Asked about the report, Peskov told reporters: "These are absolutely irresponsible arguments of people who have a poor understanding of reality and who do not feel a shred of responsibility when making such statements. We also note that all of these statements are anonymous."

Earlier, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month that as Ukraine had handed over the nuclear weapons, joining NATO was the only way it could deter Russia.

The 33-month Russia-Ukraine war saw escalations on both sides last week, after Ukraine fired US and British missiles into Russia for the first time, with permission from the West, and Moscow responded by launching a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine.

Asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation, Peskov said the West should "listen carefully" to Putin and read Russia's newly updated nuclear doctrine, which lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Separately, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because it needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis.