Iran's foreign ministry denied on Tuesday reports that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had invited a high-ranking delegation from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to visit Tehran.
Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told the state IRNA news agency said the report was "ridiculous," "baseless" and unfounded.
The ministry also declined to confirm reports of a visit by such a delegation to Iran.
Earlier Tuesday, Afghan officials announced that a high-ranking Afghan Taliban delegation would travel to Tehran at the invitation of Khamenei.
The delegation was headed by the Islamic militia's minister for refugees Mawlawi Abdul Raqib, and included Deputy Foreign Minister Abdul Rahman Zahid, an Afghan foreign ministry official told AFP.
They flew to Herat in western Afghanistan Tuesday and would be taken by helicopter to the Iranian border and then on to Tehran by plane, the official said.
"The visit has come at the direct invitation of Ayatollah Khamenei," said the official, who gave no details of the proposed discussions.
Former Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told AFP in Tehran that the dispatch of such a delegation was to be expected.
He said Iran's plan to establish camps for Afghan refugees on the Afghan side of the border would require talks with the Taliban.
"If this delegation wishes to see me, I will receive them," Hekmatyar added.
Iran, which is vehemently opposed to the hard-line Taliban, closed its eastern border with Afghanistan several weeks ago to prevent any major influx of refugees fleeing the threat of US military action.
Iran was swift to condemn the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, but has refused to cooperate with the United States in any military strikes against Afghanistan, which Washington claims is sheltering prime suspect Osama bin Laden -- TEHRAN (AFP)
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