Afghan govt expels 2 Iranian diplomats: Report

The Afghan government has reportedly expelled two top Iranian diplomats from the country over charges of being involved in intelligence activities and for being members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to a media report.

Sources within the Afghan government told TOLO News on Thursday that in retaliation Tehran has also expelled two Afghan diplomates from Iran.

One diplomat was expelled from the Afghan embassy in Tehran and the second from the Afghan consulate in Mashhad.

According to reports, one of the Iranian diplomats, Mohammad Reza Abdullah Abadi, was serving as the cultural attache at the Iranian embassy in Kabul and had arrived in Kabul in 2016 for intelligence activities.

The second diplomat was identified Jaffar Fatah Abadi, and was recognized as an influential member of IRGC's elite Quds Force, the TOLO News report said.

Abadi had served in the Iranian Consular Mission in the eastern province of Nangarhar between 2009 and 2014.

Without commenting on the development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that bilateral relations between Iran and Afghanistan were normal.

"Relations between Afghanistan and Iran are normal, these relations are based on being good neighbours. The political and consular missions of the two governments are working without any disruption," TOLO News quoted the Ministry as saying in a statement on Thursday.

The Iranian embassy in Kabul said that the diplomatic missions of the two countries were working regularly without any problems.

"Currently, the diplomatic missions of Afghanistan and Iran are fully operational in various cities. The reduction in the limited number of diplomats several months ago was made by a mutual decision between the two governments and some of the claims about this issue were based on rumours and they do not have any credibility," the embassy in Kabul told TOLO News. IANS