Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. IRAN, U.N. SIGN ACCORD ON FIGHTING DRUGS TEHRAN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Iran and the United Nations have signed an accord on fighting drug smuggling, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday. It said that under the accord -- signed between Iran and the U.N. International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) in Tehran -- the United Nations will set up an office in Tehran for the first time for the drug campaign programme. Iran is a key transit route for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe and Gulf Arab states. Iranian officials say there are half a million addicts in the country of more than 60 million people. Local media have put the number at up to one million. The United States has dropped Iran from its list of countries seen to be major drug producers or transit nations. U.N. officials say Iranian fortifications on the border with Pakistan have been effective in preventing the flow of drugs from that country. The U.N. also gives Iran high marks for its measures to try to seal the border with Afghanistan. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck