Alwaght- Iran has denied claims that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour entered Pakistan from the Islamic republic before being killed early Saturday.
Speaking at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said Mansour was not in the Islamic Republic before the attack.
“The relevant officials at the Islamic Republic deny that this person on this date crossed into Pakistan from Iran's border," Jaberi Ansari said.
He added that Iran welcomes any measures aimed at restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan, without providing further details.
Pakistani security officials claimed on Sunday that the man killed on Saturday in Balochistan, believed at the time to be Mullah Mansour, had just returned from Iran when his vehicle was attacked.
Pakistani identity documents found on the body of the man believed to be Mansour named him as Muhammad Wali, and showed he had left for Iran on March 28 and returned the day he was killed.
President Ashraf Ghani meanwhile arrived in Tehran on Monday for the signing of a tripartite agreement between Iran, India and Afghanistan to turn Iran's port of Chabahar into a transit hub between the three countries, bypassing Pakistan.
Iran has continued to supports the Afghan government in its fight against terrorist groups including Taliban.
Elsewhere, the Taliban has not issued any official statement following official reports that Mullah Mansour who assumed the leadership only last year, has been killed in a US drone strike. Senior members have, however, confirmed that their leadership council has been meeting to discuss the succession. Mullah Mansour took over the reins of Taliban after the death of its founder and long-time leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, broke in late July 2015. Mullah Omar died at a hospital in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi in April 2013.
The reports about Mansour’s death come as splinter groups within the Taliban had refused to pledge allegiance to him.
Pakistan has slammed the US drone strike believed to have killed the Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour.
In a statement issued to the media, Pakistan's foreign office said the drone strike was a violation of its sovereignty, adding that information about the drone strike was shared with the prime minister and the army chief after the strike.
