Iran expels 4,000 Afghan refugees in 2 weeks

Afghan migrants who were living in Iran as a refugee, deboard a bus after being deported back to Afghanistan at the zero point between Afghanistan and Iran in Islam Qala in Herat province on February 23, 2025. [Mohsen KARIMI / AFP / Getty Images]

Iran expelled 4,000 undocumented Afghan migrants from Kerman province over the past two weeks.

Mehdi Bakhshi, the prosecutor general of Iran’s Kerman province, announced mass arrests and deportations of Afghan migrants in recent weeks, explaining that more than 4,000 undocumented Afghans were detained and deported in just 15 days, the Afghan Khaama Press news agency reported yesterday.

The International Organisation for Migration said in 2024 alone, more than 1.2 million Afghan migrants returned from Iran, 67 per cent of them were forcibly deported, which reflects a broader trend of increased deportations amid tightening immigration policies in Iran.

Earlier, Nader YarAhmadi, head of the Iranian Interior Ministry’s Migration Centre, revealed that over three million Afghan migrants had been deported from Iran over the last three years.

The Taliban’s acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, has met with Mohammad Reza Bahrami, Director General of South Asian Affairs at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to propose the formation of a joint working group to address the return of Afghans.

The meeting aimed to develop a coordinated plan for repatriation.

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