Iran tells millions of Afghans to leave or face arrest on day of deadline
As a government-imposed deadline expired on Sunday, Iran has directed millions of Afghan migrants and refugees residing within its borders to leave or alternatively, face arrest.
This directive comes amidst heightened public anxieties over security in the wake of a recent 12-day conflict with Israel, which saw the United States engage in airstrikes targeting Iranian uranium-enrichment facilities. The confluence of these events has placed immense pressure on the Afghan community in Iran.
Humanitarian organizations are sounding alarm, cautioning that a mass expulsion of Afghans could severely destabilize Afghanistan, a nation already grappling with extreme poverty. Iran is currently home to an estimated four million Afghan migrants and refugees, many of whom have established lives there spanning decades.
This recent push for departures is not an isolated incident. In 2023, Tehran initiated a campaign aimed at expelling foreigners deemed to be residing "illegally" within the country. Building on this, the Iranian government issued an order in March, stipulating that Afghans lacking proper residency status must voluntarily depart by Sunday or face forced expulsion.
Since the March directive a significant exodus has occurred, with over 700,000 Afghans having already left Iran. Hundreds of thousands more now face the grim prospect of forced removal. Data from the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) reveals a particularly sharp increase in departures during June alone, with more than 230,000 Afghans leaving the country.
While the Iranian government denies specifically targeting Afghans, citing broader enforcement of immigration laws, the timing and scale of these actions are deeply concerning to international bodies. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported a dramatic surge in deportations during the recent conflict with Israel. Their estimates indicate that Iran was deporting an average of over 30,000 Afghans daily during this period, a stark increase from the approximately 2,000 daily deportations observed prior to the conflict.
.png "Advertisement")
