Abdul Salam Hanafi
© Getty ImagesAbdul Salam Hanafi, deputy political head of the Taliban
A delegation of the Taliban movement has travelled to Iran amid the decreasing prospects for signing a peace deal with the United States, a Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, said Tuesday.

According to the spokesman, the four-member delegation met with Iranian officials on Monday to discuss the recent developments in the Afghan peace process, the progress and security of Iranian economic projects in Afghanistan, and international and regional efforts to reach peace in the war-torn country.

The delegation was led by the deputy political head of the Taliban, Abdul Salam Hanafi, the spokesman added.

On Friday, a Taliban delegation visited Moscow to meet with the Russian president's special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov. During the talks, the sides emphasized the need to resume talks between the movement and the United States.

Washington and the Taliban have been negotiating a peace deal for about a year. The sides were close to announcing the long-awaited agreement in early September, but the efforts were undermined following a series of terrorist attacks carried out by the Taliban in the Afghan capital of Kabul, which killed dozens of civilians and a US serviceman.

US President Donald Trump said the talks were "dead" and put the blame for sabotaging the negotiations on the Taliban.

The deal envisaged a gradual withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for the Taliban's guarantee that the country would not become a haven for terrorists and the movement would sever all ties to terrorist organizations.