Senior parliamentarian Allaeddin Boroujerdi said on Wednesday the U.S. claim on Iran-Afghanistan financial link seeks to jeopardize Iran's relations with neighboring states, MNA reported.
In the past, similar reports were made about Iran and Turkey, and this time about Afghanistan but the Afghan president reacted in an appropriate way, Boroujerdi, chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told reporters.
On Monday, President Hamid Karzai dismissed the way the story was covered by the NYT, saying the money is given "to help the presidential office and to help dispense assistance in various ways to the employees here and to people outside (the presidential office)," Karzai said, adding that he had instructed Daudzai to accept the money.
Boroujerdi said Iran plays a constructive role in Afghanistan, adding the more Iran pursues this policy, the better it can reduce the number of people who illegally immigrate to Iran.
At present there are over one million illegal Afghan immigrants in the country, he explained.
Boroujerdi also said a major part of Iran's financial assistance to Afghanistan is in the form of credit for Iranian companies, which run various projects there.
According to The New York Times, Iran's ambassador to Afghanistan, Fada Hossein Maliki gave Daudzai a large plastic bag bulging with packets of euro bills during a trip to Iran last August. The report said that Daudzai has been receiving regular cash payments from Iran.
On the U.S. proposal for deploying a missile defense shield in Turkey, Boroujerdi said "the issue of missile shield is an old weapon discussed by the West since it started to confront Iran."
Iran's defense capability does not pose a threat to the region, he said, adding "Turkish people have been under pressure due to their revolutionary positions, particularly on Palestine."
At a meeting last week, NATO members discussed a proposal presented by the United States to establish a new ballistic missile defense shield in Turkey.
Turkish officials say they will analyze and deliberate on all the possible outcomes and implications of the proposed plan before reaching a decision.
Turkey's top security body, the National Security Council, was set to discuss Wednesday whether to back a U.S.-led plan for the missile shield.
"This is not a reservation, but the conditions needed for negotiation. We are negotiating the terms of it, and naturally all parties are presenting their opinions," Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul told reporters on Friday.