Tehran - The threat of a new war in the Middle East receded yesterday when Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ruled out military confrontation with the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Ayatollah Khamenei, commander-in-chief of Iran's halfmillion-strong armed forces, said there would be "no confrontation with Taliban", the Tehran Times reported. Tension has risen between the two Muslim states after 11 Iranian diplomats were presumably killed when Taliban fighters overran the Afghan opposition stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif last month.
