A senior Iranian lawmaker has dismissed as baseless a US media report claiming that Iran sent "bags of money" to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to secure his loyalty, Press TV reported.
The United States tells big lies in a bid to harm the Islamic Republic's relations with its neighboring states, Head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis (parliament) Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters on Wednesday.
"Some time ago a similar allegation was reported against Turkey," IRNA quoted him as saying.
In a report published on Saturday, US daily The New York Times claimed that President Karzai receives millions of dollars every other month from Iran, alleging that the money is distributed among Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders.
The Iranian lawmaker also stressed that Iran's financial aid to the war-ravaged Afghanistan has been totally within the framework of signed agreements between the two states.
Boroujerdi underscored that a major part of Iran's financial assistance to Afghanistan is in the form of credit being paid to Iranian companies that carry out various projects in the country.
"We welcome the increase of aid to Afghanistan because it will reduce the Afghan immigration rate," he continued.
The Iranian politician reiterated that the bribery report has been refuted both by the Afghan government and the Iranian embassy in Kabul.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Iranian embassy rejected the "false, ridiculous and insulting" claim by The New York Times and said certain Western media make such unfounded rumors to stir up public opinion and damage growing relations between the two neighboring countries.