IRAN: U.N. ANTI-DRUGS CHIEF PRAISES IRAN FIGHT DESPITE EXECUTIONS

the U.N. anti-drugs chief praised Iran's fight against narcotics trafficking despite a surge in executions in the country, many of people convicted of drug-related offences.
Yury Fedotov, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the Vienna-based agency opposes the death penalty, "but on the other side, Iran takes a very active role to fight against illicit drugs," he told reporters before an international meeting in Vienna on March 13-14 on global efforts to combat narcotics.
In 2012, Iran seized 388 metric tons of opium, the equivalent of 72 percent of all such seizures around the world. "It is very impressive," Fedotov said.
Because of a large number of executions, some countries - including Britain and Denmark - have in recent years stopped providing funding for UNODC drug control programs in Iran.
But Fedotov made clear the UNODC was not considering halting support for Iran. "I don't believe that the international community would welcome this because it would mean, as a possible reaction from Iran, that all these huge quantities of drugs, which are now being seized by Iranians, would flow freely to Europe," he said.