Just one week after American officials reportedly met with a Taliban delegation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Adm. Ali Shamkhani confirmed for the first time that Iran has also held talks with the Taliban. Shamkhani made the comments during a Dec. 26 visit to Kabul to meet with Afghan officials, including President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib, to discuss regional and bilateral security issues.

According to Shamkhani, the purpose of the talks between Iran and the Taliban were conducted in order to “solve security problems” and “the entirety of the talks with the Taliban were held with the knowledge of the Afghan government.” He said the “process of the talks would continue.”

Stories of Iran-Taliban relations have circulated in recent years and are filled with accusations and mostly denials. The United States has previously accused Iran of having relations with and even funding the Taliban. In 2016, when a US drone strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor near the Iranian border, there were reports that he was returning from Iran. In May, Iran’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad Reza Bahrami confirmed that Iran had “contacts” with the Taliban but denied having relations, saying, “We did not turn these contacts into relations because we did not want to legitimize the Taliban.”

There could be many reasons for Shamkhani’s confirmation. Iranian analyst Pir Mohammad Molazehi told Donya-e Eqtesad daily that the reported meeting between the Taliban and US officials on Dec. 17 in Abu Dhabi likely sparked this confirmation by Shamkhani. Representatives from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the UAE were present at the meeting, which was preceded by US Special Envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad holding talks with a Taliban delegation in Qatar.