TEHRAN, Nov 20: Iran reopened its embassy in Kabul on Tuesday, state radio reported, quoting the foreign ministry.

“Considering the latest developments in Afghanistan, Iran’s embassy in Kabul has taken up its activities,” ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said.

The reopening of the embassy, closed when Kabul fell to the Taliban in 1996, came just one day after Iran reopened its consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat.

“The consulate in Herat has taken up its activities in Herat again,” Mohammad Alavizadeh, head of the consulate, told the radio on Monday.

Iran recalled its diplomats and closed the consulate in Herat in May after protesters attacked the mission following a bomb blast outside a mosque.

Tehran never recognized the Taliban and the Herat consulate was its only official link with the militia. Iranian foreign ministry officials have reportedly been making their way by road into Afghanistan to also prepare for the reopening of their consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif.—AFP