Army and security chiefs from Jordan and Syria met Sunday to curb a growing drug trade along their mutual border with deadly skirmishes, blamed on pro-Iranian militias who hold sway in southern Syria.
The meeting comes after Syria's neighbors got a pledge from Damascus in May to cooperate with their efforts to rein in Syria's flourishing drug trade in exchange for helping end its pariah status after a brutal the civil war.
"The meeting discussed cooperation in confronting the drug danger and its sources of production and smuggling and the parties that organize and execute smuggling operations across the border," the Jordanian foreign ministry said.
Syria is accused by Arab governments and the West of producing the highly-addictive and lucrative amphetamine captagon and organizing its smuggling into the Gulf, with Jordan a main transit route.
The kingdom is concerned about lawlessness in the strategic southern region where it echoes Washington's accusations that pro-Iranian militias protected by units with the Syrian army run the multi-billion dollar smuggling networks.
The West blamed Syria's government for the production and export of the drug, naming Maher al-Assad, the head of the army's elite Fourth Division and the president's brother, as a key figure.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government denies involvement, or complicity by Iranian-backed. Iran says the allegations are part of Western plots against the country.
Jordan, impatient with what it says are broken promises to curb the drug war, made a rare strike in May inside Syrian territory where an Iran-linked drugs factory was demolished.
In the last few weeks, Jordan's army downed two Iranian operated drones coming from Syria with one the army said carried weapons.
Jordan requested more US military aid to bolster security on the border.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaanisaid Monday, “We want governments of countries in which such shameful insults occur to prevent the repetition of such disgraceful actions and to strongly deal with the perpetrators."
Two men publicly burned the Quran outside Stockholm's central mosque late in June -- on the first day of Islamic festivities of Eid al-Adha -- an act approved by a Swedish court. Some 200 onlookers witnessed one of the two protesters tearing up pages of a copy of the Quran and wiping his shoes with it before putting bacon in it and setting the book on fire, while the other spoke into a megaphone.
The incident involved Salwan Momika, an Iraqi immigrant, who repeated the act once again last week, this time in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm. Also on Friday, members of the far-right nationalist group "Danske Patrioter (Danish Patriots)" burned a copy of the Quran in front of Iraq's Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In an effort to garner support from believers of other religions, Kanaani said that “insulting celestial sanctities and Abrahamic religions is unacceptable and cannot be justified by any means.”
According to Kanaani, Iran has taken several measures to hold Sweden responsible for the 'sacrilege,' including summoning Swedish Ambassador to Tehran Mattias Lentz two times in the past few weeks, sending out a note of protest to Stockholm, and writing a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahianalso held a conversation with the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in this regard. Iran has also announced that it will refrain from accepting the new Swedish ambassador and has no plans to send a new ambassador to the country.
He also reiterated the call on Stockholm to hand over the individuals behind the burning of the Quran to Islamic countries. “No country can, based on its own laws, infringe upon the values of others, as it would be a clear violation of the rights of other nations.”
Urging collective action by Islamic countries, Kanaani added, “We believe that Islamic countries must seriously utilize their capacities. It is the request of Islamic countries that actions be taken against criminals.”
He was echoing remarks by Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei, who demanded harsh punishment for the perpetrators, saying that Sweden should hand over the individuals involved to a Muslim country. In the case of some Muslim states, the punishment would be execution.
Following the incident, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, called on all Arab and Muslim countries to expel the Swedish ambassadors from their respective nations and recall their own ambassadors from Sweden, echoing the actions taken by the Iraqi government.
The tensions escalated further when hundreds of supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical Iraqi Shia cleric, attacked the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, setting it on fire. A few days later, Baghdad expelled the Swedish envoy from the country.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Commander Hossein Salami has also threatened attacks against those responsible for the incident in their own country, saying that those who burn or desecrate the Quran will not enjoy security.
“We will not allow those who insult the Quran to have security. If someone wants to play with our Quran and religion, we will play with all his world,” Salami threatened. He went on to say, “Sooner or later the vengeful hand of “mujaheds” will reach politicians and stage managers behind this sort of crimes, and we will render the highest punishment to the perpetrator.”
In the late 1980s, Iran’s then-ruler Ayatollah Khomeini issued a Fatwa for the killing of British author Salman Rushdie for his book, Satanic Verses, seen by some Muslims as insulting to Prophet Muhammed. Iran also announced a reward for Rushdie’s killing.
In an unattributed commentary earlier this month, Aftab News in Tehran said millions of Afghan immigrants consume at least $5b of around $90 to 100 billion annual subsidies that the government is spending to keep fuel, other energy and food prices down. The website suggested that this is only one of the ways in which the authorities are encouraging Afghans to stay in Iran.
The article suggested that the Islamic Republic might be facilitating Afghan immigration as a remedy to the problem of population decline. “We should not start to import a big population that lacks national and religious [conformity with the Iranian population] under the pretext that the country’s population may decline within the next few decades,” it said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei believes efforts to increase the country's population are among the most urgent duties and essential policies of the Islamic Republic as the main Shia government in the Muslim world.
Aftab News is a website close to former President Hassan Rouhani and the moderate conservative Moderation and Development Party.
“It is not difficult to understand that the presence of foreign nationals is highly beneficial to some segments of the state who can use these immigrants to serve their political and ideological interests, [particularly] in areas where Iranians are less inclined to participate,” the commentary said.
Iranian authorities usually refer to Afghan immigrants and refugees as ‘foreign nationals’.
“This is a very vague statement, but it is probably suggesting that authorities are hoping that immigrants, Shiite Afghans in particular, will fight for the regime should there be a war as some of them, the Fatemiyoun brigade, fought for the Revolutionary Guards in Syria, because recruiting Iranians to fight in such wars in becoming more and more difficult,” a political analyst who asked not to be quoted by name told Iran International.
Thousands of Afghans fleeing the economic hardships under the Taliban enter Iran daily from official border points or illegally from other areas along the 900 km border to find work in Iran to support their families back home or to continue their journey towards Europe.
In April 2021 Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said one million more Afghans had entered Iran since the Taliban took power in August the previous year, bringing the number of refugees and economic migrant to five million. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Only 780,000 of Afghans residing in Iran are recognized as refugees. Most other Afghans are considered economic migrants who have been an important workforce in Iran.
The article also claimed that the number of Afghans has uncharacteristically increased in several Iranian cities including Qom where it said Afghans have been given the right to legally purchase property. Qom in central Iran is home to Iran's largest religious seminaries where many foreign nationals including Shia Afghans study.
Allowing Afghans to buy property in Qom, it suggested, is proof that there is no resolve in related government agencies to control the Afghan immigration to Iran.
The article also alleged that lack of control at eastern borders of the country, issuing thousands of tourist visas every day when applicants do not intend to return to their home country, automatic renewal of tourist, pilgrimage and other types of visas, elimination or reduction of cash fines for illegal entry and stay, illegal immigrants’ easy access to various services including education and healthcare “indicate targeted planning.”