KABUL, November 25 (RIA Novosti) - The UN World Food Program is to send deliveries of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan via neighboring Iran, a UN official said on Tuesday.

The head of the program's Asian department said that this year convoys carrying humanitarian cargo were attacked 25 times in Afghanistan, and that food supplies worth $850,000 were stolen.

He said the food would now be delivered via Iran and other bordering states, thereby avoiding the most dangerous parts of the war-hit country.

The UN World Food Program is looking to deliver 36,000 metric tons of food to Afghanistan before this winter. The country saw a particularly bad harvest this year, largely due to droughts. However, due to attacks on aid convoys, only 26,000 metric tons of food has been delivered so far.