Iranian officials return one million Afghan immigrants within six months

Iranian officials said they have expelled over 1.2 million illegal Afghan immigrants in half a year and intend to send another 800,000 next year, in one of the largest deportations Iran has ever seen.

Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni was cited by Iranian news agency IRNA as saying the steps are "immigration law" based and aimed solely at foreigners who lack residence permits, dismissing any impetus by so-called "xenophobia."

Momeni also said 1.2 million Afghan refugees have been expelled in the past six months and another 800,000 are to be deported by next March.

This takes the total number of deportees to 2 million out of an estimated 6 million Afghans living in the country.

Momeni clarified that the steps are being taken on the basis of immigration law against foreigners without residence permits and are not motivated by "xenophobia."

Dissension, poverty, and widespread unemployment compel enormous quantities of Afghans every year illegally along the 300-kilometer-long border shared by the two countries. Tehran is facing high levels of inflation as well as unemployment levels which have been exacerbated by Western sanctions levied on its nuclear industry. "The majority of Afghan migrants work in low-salary occupations in the service and construction sectors in urban areas," stated Otcenashvili. They are a source of cheap labor.

According to UN and media sources, the deportation rate has increased since last June, with nearly "700,000 Afghans being deported in two months," and the UN estimated deportees from January 2025 as more than "1.1 million people."

ANHA