The crisis between Iran and Afghanistan's Taliban seemed to edge closer to conflict yesterday as the militia warned it would hit Iranian cities if attacked after Iran's leader put the military on alert.
"Iran must know that if the soil of Afghanistan is attacked, we will target Iranian cities, and the entire responsibility will rest with Iranian authorities," the Taliban spokesman, Mr Wakil Ahmed, told the independent Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).
"We do not want a war with Iran, but if Iran attacks we will take all possible necessary measures," Mr Ahmed said, adding that the Taliban had reinforced border positions to counter an Iranian military build-up.
The announcement came shortly after Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, commander-in-chief of the country's 500,000-strong armed forces, told officials and the military to be prepared for possible action.
"All officials. . . including the armed forces, must be ready for the speedy, timely and decisive implementation of whatever decisions the senior political and security authorities deem necessary and right for the country," the official news agency IRNA quoted Ayatollah Khamenei as saying.
He also told senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards that the situation in Afghanistan was a "highly crucial issue" for predominantly Shia Muslim Iran, on religious, humanitarian and political grounds, IRNA reported.
His remarks followed Iranian media reports which accused the Sunni Taliban of widespread killings, rapes and looting after their capture on Sunday of the central Afghan town of Bamiyan, stronghold of Shia opposition forces which Iran backs.
Hours earlier, the bodies of six Iranian diplomats and an IRNA correspondent killed by Taliban forces in Afghanistan last month were brought back to emotional scenes at Tehran Airport.
The President, Mr Mohammad Khatami, headed thousands of tearful mourners including cabinet ministers, senior armed forces officers, foreign diplomats and bereaved relatives at a solemn ceremony on Monday night.
The diplomats were killed in a "barbaric way" immediately after their capture last month, IRNA reported yesterday.
Iran has built up its forces on the Afghan border to about 70,000 and said more than 200,000 other troops would soon carry out military exercises along the tense frontier.
AFP adds: Saudi Arabia does not approve of the Taliban militia's behaviour towards Iran despite being one of its most powerful allies, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Mohammad Sadr, said yesterday.
"The protection they [the Taliban] are giving to the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden raises questions on relations between Saudi Arabia and the Taliban," he said.
The deputy minister said the rising tensions between Iran and the Taliban were "not affecting Iranian-Saudi relations".