Iran's Afghan talks boycott 'inexplicable'
David Miliband brands Iranian decision to boycott London Afghanistan conference as "inexplicable"
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 28, Jan 2010 07:34
By Matthew Champion.
Iran's decision to boycott the London Afghanistan conference has been dubbed "inexplicable" by the UK foreign secretary David Miliband.
Up until two days ago it was expected that Iran would send some form of representation to the conference, attended by more than 70 delegations.
But despite the two countries sharing a 936km (582 mile) border and thousands of Afghan refugees living in Iran, Tehran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki refused to fly to London.
The snub was compounded by the Iranian ambassador also turning down an invite to step in for Mr Mottaki; with Iran being represented by an empty chair during talks instead.
Mr Miliband told journalists: "I think it's very important in international relations that countries say what they mean and mean what they say.
"Their failure to attend the conference means many countries in the region and beyond will draw their own conclusions about the dissonance between their words and deeds."
The foreign secretary added: "They are not the victims of other people's conspiracy theories; they are the authors of their own misfortune."
UK-Iran relations are at a near all-time low over the latter's nuclear programme, while Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei last year branded London "evil" over criticism of his government's crackdown of pro-democracy protests.