While officially an American ally, Afghanistan said Monday that under no conditions would it respect American demands that it stop trading with Iran. Afghani officials said that complying with Western sanctions against Iran would hurt its economy. U.S. Treasury officials met with Afghani bankers, who said that while they had not received a direct warning about trade, but that the government would inform Washington that it did not intend to comply with the sanctions, if a request was made.

Afghanistani-Iranian trade amounts to about $2 billion annually, with Afghanistan getting about 15% of its oil from Iran.