KABUL (Afghanistan), Dec 22: Iran has banned fuel exports to Afghanistan, stranding about 3,000 fuel trucks at the border and driving up wholesale prices for the refined products ahead of what many Afghans fear will be a blistery winter in their oil-poor nation, officials said on Wednesday.

Although Tehran has not officially confirmed the move, it appears to reflect Iran's concern that the fuel is being funnelled to Nato forces fighting the Taliban.

Afghan officials insist the stranded shipments, which include gasoline, diesel and heating oil from Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, are aimed for the local market.

There are as many as 3,000 trucks stranded on the Iranian side of the border that were headed for the eastern Afghan provinces of Farah, Nimroz and Herat, according to Afghan customs and commerce ministry officials.

“This fuel is brought in by Afghan businessmen,” Mozammil Shinwari, the head of the Afghan commerce ministry's international relations department, told The Associated Press. “We asked border authorities in Iran why the trucks were stopped, and were told that the order came from security officials in Iran.”

Mr Shinwari said Afghan officials have met with officials in Iran, but no official explanation has been offered.—AP