Iran urges EU support for drug war

In a meeting with a group of Dutch lawmakers, Alireza Jahangiri highlighted the heavy costs the war on drugs has inflicted on Iran, saying the country has lost many servicemen in the battle against narcotics smuggled to Europe, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Iran is on a major transit route for drugs being smuggled from Afghanistan to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug trafficking. The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past three decades.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Iran is netting eight times more opium and three times more heroin than all other countries in the world combined.

Earlier this month, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called for a mechanism to make the international community share the burden of the costly battle on narcotics, bemoaning the fact that the countries along the routes used for trafficking drugs to Europe are bearing the brunt of the drug war.