KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Iran will start a second phase of deportations of Afghan migrants this week, Tehran’s governor announced, intensifying a campaign that has already pushed nearly two million people back into Afghanistan.
Mohammad Sadeq Motamedian, governor of Tehran, said the campaign targets what officials describe as “undocumented migrants” and will be enforced “seriously,” according to state news agency ISNA. He argued that no country would tolerate the presence of “illegal foreigners.”
Motamedian said Iran has expelled 1.4 million Afghans so far this year, including 450,000 from Tehran alone. He claimed the removals had freed more than 3,000 classrooms for Iranian students, lowered rental housing costs by 30–35%, and helped return jobs to Iranian workers.
Iran hosts one of the world’s largest Afghan migrant populations. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than five million Afghans had been living in the country legally and illegally before recent deportations. Many fled decades of conflict, instability, persecution, and a lack of job opportunities in Afghanistan, and their numbers increased sharply after the Taliban regained power in 2021.
Iranian authorities say the current deportation campaign targets those without valid legal documents. However, rights organizations and local media have reported that Afghans holding passports, visas and temporary permits have also been deported in recent months.
The expulsions have affected Iran’s economy as well. Construction firms, farms and small manufacturing businesses, which rely heavily on Afghan labour, have reported worker shortages and disruptions. Some factories and farms have temporarily closed, contradicting official claims that the measures have restored jobs to Iranian nationals.
A similar deportation drive is taking place in neighboring Pakistan, where authorities say more than 1.3 million Afghan refugees have been expelled over the past two years. A new phase has recently begun, targeting 1.4 million people holding temporary residency cards known as Proof of Registration (PoR).
Human rights groups and UN experts have criticized the forced returns, warning that deportees face deepening poverty, persecution and restrictions on rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. They have urged both Iran and Pakistan to halt mass expulsions and uphold international protection obligations.
