Griffiths made the remarks while speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Tuesday following a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
The UN official said that he has held constructive talks with Amir Abdollahian on a range of issues. He stated that his discussions with Amirabdollahian focused, among other things, on the pressure exerted on Iran by an influx of Afghan refugees into the country and a lack of international assistance to Tehran in its efforts to host the Afghan nationals.
He called on the countries which have committed to provide relief aid to Afghans to fulfill their promises.
Regarding the UN humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Griffiths stated that the countries are committed to help $4.6 billion to Afghans.
He also noted that Taliban was reminded about its responsibilities with regard to women and girls.
The UN relief chief also said that the world body is seeking humanitarian exemptions on Western sanctions against Iran through the Security Council, expressing hope for closer ties between Tehran and the world body.
“Humanitarian agencies, and people like myself representing them everywhere in the world where there are sanctions, work very hard to mitigate the impact of those sanctions in humanitarian terms, and Iran is no different from anywhere else in that regard,” he continued.
The official added sanctions are applied in different ways “but our efforts to mitigate them do not differ in different countries, whether it is in Iran, in Syria, in Afghanistan or elsewhere.”
Griffiths also said that the UN relief bodies are very often assisted by decisions from key member states to provide an exemption through the Security Council and through humanitarian operations, saying, “We diligently pursue the implementation of those exemptions.”
He further noted that UN agencies have also in Iran imported medical and health supplies to make sure that they are usable and used for the people of Iran.
“Our interest in sanctions is not political, it’s humanitarian, and it just seeks to ensure where people need humanitarian aid, sanctions do not impede their access to that aid,” he concluded.
Iran is one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world with its generous reception of refugees and despite oppressive and cruel US sanctions, it has been a good host for refugees which has offered quality training, education, medical and healthcare and livelihood services while rich countries usually try to avoid accepting refugees.
Millions of Afghans have migrated to Iran since the 1980’s when the war began there following the Soviet invasion of the country. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 also forced huge numbers of them to flee to Iran.
Iran has been hosting the refugees and has assisted them with various services for several decades. Tehran has time and again called on the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to provide the refugees with relief aid. They have yet to provide the Afghans with assistanse.
Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi has said European countries have provided no relief aid for Afghan refugees in Iran and Tehran is hosting them on its own.
The president noted that Iran is now hosting more than 4 million Afghan refugees.
He added that Iran has a sense of responsibility toward the Afghan people, unlike the European governments that pursue the issue of Afghanistan for political purposes.