KABUL – Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni has announced that nearly one million Afghan migrants have been deported from Iran, out of an estimated two million undocumented Afghans currently residing in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Momeni told ISNA News that the expulsions have been carried out “with full dignity and respect.”
He claimed that Taliban-appointed governors from Afghan provinces bordering Iran had visited the country to inspect the deportation process, and had reportedly confirmed that the treatment of migrants was respectful. He further said that 70 percent of Afghan migrants who left Iran had done so voluntarily.
However, rights groups and Afghan migrants tell a different story. Numerous testimonies from deportees describe mistreatment, beatings, confiscation of property, and overcrowded detention conditions during the process.
Human Rights Watch and other advocacy organizations have repeatedly raised concerns about the treatment of Afghan migrants in Iran reporting cases of abuse, forced deportations, and inhumane conditions in detention centers. Several deaths of Afghan migrants have also been reported in Iranian deportation camps, though Tehran has denied responsibility in most cases.
The wave of deportations has intensified since 2023, as Iranian authorities have stepped up efforts to remove undocumented migrants, citing economic strain and national security. But observers note that this crackdown comes amid deteriorating economic conditions inside Iran, rising anti-migrant rhetoric, and strained Iran-Afghanistan relations following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
Since the Taliban takeover, Iran has seen a surge in Afghan arrivals, including former government workers, journalists, and members of persecuted minorities, seeking refuge from political persecution, economic collapse, and human rights abuses.
According to the UNHCR, Iran hosts over 3.6 million Afghans, including more than two million undocumented individuals. Tehran, however, has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, and many of these migrants live in legal limbo, often facing arbitrary arrest or deportation.
In addition to deportations, a growing number of violent incidents targeting Afghan nationals have raised alarm. Most recently, the murder of an Afghan woman and her three young children in the Morteza Gerd area of Tehran, shortly after her husband was deported, has brought renewed attention to the vulnerability of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in Iran.
While Iranian authorities have yet to issue an official statement on the killings, the case is being investigated as part of a broader pattern of insecurity affecting migrant communities.
Despite official Iranian claims of orderly and humane removals, deported Afghans frequently report being dropped off at remote border crossings without access to food, shelter, or transportation, often in Taliban-controlled territories where they fear persecution or lack basic survival resources.
The Taliban, while publicly calling for the dignified treatment of Afghans abroad, has also acknowledged the strain of absorbing thousands of returnees amid Afghanistan’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.
But UN says that Taliban have committed grave human rights violations against Afghans forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan, which the Taliban have denied. Women and girls, former government employees, members of the former security forces, journalists, and civil society activists are among those most at risk of reprisals and abuse upon return.
As deportations continue and tensions rise, international rights organizations are urging Iran to halt forced returns and ensure protection for vulnerable migrants, while also calling on the global community to share responsibility for Afghan displacement.
