Afghan President Ashraf Ghani congratulated Iran’s President-elect Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on his victory in Iran’s presidential elections last week and told Raisi he hoped relations would further expand under his leadership.

The Presidential Palace said in a statement on Tuesday Ghani and Raisi had a telephonic conversation.

“Afghanistan and Iran are two neighboring and brotherly countries, and I hope that your election as President-elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran will further expand relations and cooperation in various fields between the two countries”, the statement cited Ghani as having told Raisi.

In return, Raisi thanked Ghani for his call and stressed the need to deepen relations and expand cooperation between the two countries.

Raisi, a hardliner and fierce critic of the West, won Iran’s presidential election on Friday.

Raisi will take office in early August, replacing pragmatist Hassan Rouhani, under whom Tehran struck a deal agreeing to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions.