Iran to deport two million Afghans in expulsion programme

TEHRAN: Iran is to deport two million Afghan migrants in six months, in one of the largest expulsion programmes in recent history, according to Ahmad-Reza Radan, head of Iran’s national police.

Police have already begun violently detaining migrants and dumping them back across the border of the Taliban-ruled country.

Shops in one province have been ordered not to sell food to Afghans, while videos have gone viral of an “Afghan George Floyd” having his neck knelt on by police officers. According to the UN, around 4.5 million Afghans live in Iran, with many having fled the country since the takeover of the Taliban in 2021.

In order to prevent more migrants entering the country, Tehran is also building a 13ft-tall wall along a stretch of the 900-km-long border with Afghanistan. Radan, referring to Afghan nationals, said: “We are working to deport a significant number of unauthorised foreign nationals whose presence in the country is illegal.”

Eskandar Momeni, Iran’s interior minister, said this week: “Afghans are cultivated people, but our country cannot receive so many migrants.

“We plan to handle these matters in an orderly fashion and without much fuss,” he said, referring to the deportations. “Our priority lies with irregular migrants.”

Around 625,000 Afghan migrants left Iran in 2023, according to the Danish Refugee Council. The drastic increase in deportations promised by authorities appears to be linked to Masoud Pezeshkian’s (the new president) pledge to secure the border with Afghanistan during the election campaign.