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Grand ayatollah warns against Iran's Taliban approach

The rare criticism came as the Iranian establishment is accused of attempting to canonize the Taliban amid shifting regional dynamics.  
iranian weapons afghanistan 1998

Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, one of Iran's most senior clerics, lashed out at the Islamic Republic's softened policy at a moment of rapid Taliban advances and widespread atrocities in Afghanistan.  

Such an approach, the ayatollah warned, "is a grave and irreparable mistake." He cautioned the Iranian government not to trust a "terrorist" group "whose evil and murderous nature is no secret to the world." Golpaygani called on both Iran and the international community to "act with seriousness" to avert further "Taliban aggression against oppressed Afghans."  

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