Iran: October 13, 2002

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  The government complains that that international anti-drug efforts ignore the fact that Iran is taking the brunt of battles with drug traffickers. In the last 20 years, Iran has made 2.5 million arrests of drug dealers and smugglers, and seized 2,400 tons of drugs. Afghanistan is producing  3-4,000 tons of drugs a year and most of that comes across the Iranian border. In the past 20 years, 3,100 Iranian security personnel have been killed fighting drug smugglers crossing from Afghanistan. The government says that 88.5 percent of the world's opium and 95 percent of the illegal morphine is smuggled through Iran.