Afghanistan President Mr. Hamid Karzai today admitted that his office regularly receives cash payments from Iran to pay for his special expenses but insisted it was through official channels. Addressing a press conference at his Presidential palace, Mr. Karzai said the Iranian government has been providing with hundreds of thousands of euros once or twice every year and expressed gratefulness for Iranian help in this regard. He was responding to a report in which Tehran was accused of passing bags of money as part of a secret and steady stream of cash intended to promote Iran's interest in Afghanistan.The report, citing Afghan and Western officials in Kabul, said Karzai's chief of staff, Umar Daoudzai, was working as conduit in the movement of cash delivered to him in Iran or Afghanistan. The Afghan President said that Daoudzai was receiving that help under his instruction. ‘However, the Iranian embassy in Kabul denied as ridiculous and insulting the report in New York Times. It said that such baseless speculations are being spread by some Western media outlets in order to confuse public opinion and to damage the strong ties between the governments and nations of the Islamic republics of Afghanistan and Iran.