H.E. Mr. Javad Kachoueian:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. Iran has more than 3 million Afghan refugees. Unfortunately we do not get help from the international community. The majority of them have been educated in Iran, they have married and mix with members of the Iranian community and they work in Iran. We had many discussions with the international community about getting help, but unfortunately we did not obtain help.

With regard to co-operation between the EU and Iran on narcotics, prior to 2003 I was the director of the first European department of the Foreign Ministry and I was a member of the Iranian delegation which negotiated with the EU. The three topics we discussed at the time were refugees, how to combat narcotics and the Middle East. Discussions have resumed to find solutions to the benefit of the region and the international community. The drug traffickers in Afghanistan told us to give them a short transit route and if we did so they would not distribute narcotics in Iran. The aim of these groups is to distribute drugs in Europe and not Iran. We could not agree with this so we fought against them. Unfortunately, we did not receive any help from European countries. The gangs have high-quality technology to fight against our soldiers on the border.

A number of years ago our leader made a suggestion on the situation in Palestine. He said Palestinians should be allowed return to their homes and a referendum should be held to select a government for the region, under the auspices of the United Nations. More than 4 million Palestinians are in different countries and they want to return home. The international community has a responsibility in this regard to help the Palestinians. For every one Israeli killed more than two or three dozen Palestinians are killed in a bombardment. This is not fair. Unfortunately, the situation in Palestine has created terrorism, which has also been experienced in other areas in the region such as Syria and Iraq and perhaps will happen in other countries. Kuwaiti officials are very concerned. Some countries may have helped these groups but now they are frightened and very concerned about ISIS because it has declared an Islamic government, which means it wants to control the entire region. Terrorism is very dangerous for the peace and security of the region and for the world. The Iraqi Government has asked the international community for help.

I believe the time is right to help the Iraqi Government in its fight against terrorism. Without this help for the Iraqi Government, there will be many problems for the international community in the future. We believe the response to the Prime Minister's letter to the United Nations Security Council should be positive.