900 Suspected Drug Smugglers in Iran Could Be Executed

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Iran said Wednesday that 900 suspected drug smugglers face the gallows in a year-old narcotics crackdown in which more than 1,000 men and women already have been executed.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency, monitored in Cyprus, quoted a senior official as saying that 14,000 people, including 569 Afghans, have been arrested since March for major drug offenses.

Iran’s anti-drug campaign could eventually dam up what has become a major narcotics pipeline into Western Europe and the United States.

Human rights organizations have condemned the large number of executions in the ruthless crackdown.

But a campaign that cuts the volume of heroin flooding into the West could help President Hashemi Rafsanjani’s efforts to end Iran’s isolation and restore relations with the West.