Taliban representatives from Afghanistan arrived in Tehran on Sunday and started peace negotiations with Iran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on Monday.
The talks are designed to set parameters for negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Iranian media reported.
“A Taliban delegation was in Tehran yesterday (Sunday). They had comprehensive negotiations with the Iranian deputy foreign minister,” Ghasemi said in a news conference aired live on state television on Monday.
Taliban has not confirmed the meeting so far.
This comes after Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on December 28 that Iranian officials have met with the Taliban and that its details were shared with the Afghan government in Shamkhani’s trip to Kabul last week.
At least two weeks ago, US and Taliban officials held meetings in Abdu Dhabi to discuss a political settlement and ways to facilitate direct talks between the militants and the Afghan government.
The Taliban said they also held meetings with officials from the UAE, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but the militants refused to meet a delegation from Afghanistan.