Three-minute read
For over forty years, Iran served as a refuge for millions of Afghans fleeing war, repression, and poverty. They worked, studied, and lived alongside Iranians, often blending into the cities and industries they helped build. But that fragile coexistence is now collapsing. What began as a shared struggle has become a story of persecution, as the Iranian regime turns its repressive apparatus against one of the most vulnerable groups within its borders.
The latest wave of deportations—intensified during the regime’s recent 12-day war—exposes its disregard for humanitarian obligations and its readiness to scapegoat refugees amid mounting internal crises and global isolation. Far from an exception, the treatment of Afghan refugees reflects the regime’s broader contempt for human rights, both at home and abroad.
Mass Deportations Under the Guise of “Security”
In the weeks following the ceasefire with Israel, the Iranian regime intensified its campaign of mass deportations. Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni proudly announced that over 400,000 undocumented Afghan nationals had already been “returned” in the first half of the year, with the full backing of the armed forces. Officials declared the complete closure of Iran’s eastern borders a top priority, citing vague “security concerns” and alleged infiltration by Afghan “Israeli spies.”
#Iran News:
Clerical Regime Used 100,000 #Afghan Migrants to Boost Attendance at #Raisi Funeral, News Agency Admitshttps://t.co/UrGCrhTL9q— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 25, 2024
In Tehran, the crackdown is unmistakable. Police checkpoints have proliferated in Afghan-majority neighborhoods, and public transport vehicles are now repurposed to ferry detained migrants to deportation hubs. The city’s governor even boasted that arrests of undocumented nationals have quadrupled.
While the regime claims these operations are carried out “with respect and human dignity,” humanitarian accounts paint a starkly different picture.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 70% of Afghan returnees from Iran are forcibly expelled—many of them women and children. Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, warned that border facilities are overwhelmed: “Sometimes up to five buses arrive at once from Iran, full of tired, disoriented, and hungry families. They are shocked by the treatment they’ve received.”
Deportees report abuse by Iranian border guards, seizure of personal belongings, and forced family separations. In June alone, more than 230,000 Afghans were pushed across the Dogharun–Islam Qala crossing. UNICEF estimates that over 5,000 Afghan children have been separated from their families during these expulsions.
#Iran: Zarif’s Lies To Whitewash the Scandal Over Using Afghan Refugees in Iran as Cannon Fodder in the War in #Syriahttps://t.co/LID75H74jm
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 24, 2021
Many of these refugees had legal status or valid visas but found themselves swept up in the dragnet. Amid growing xenophobia, accusations of espionage and terrorism are now being casually thrown at refugees—without evidence. State media and hardline officials have fueled this climate, urging Iranians to report undocumented Afghans and labeling entire communities as national security risks.
From Guests to “Threats”
For decades, Iran’s Afghan population was portrayed by state propaganda as symbolic of the regime’s generosity. In schools, on construction sites, and in marketplaces, Afghan refugees quietly formed the backbone of Iran’s labor force. Their children sat next to Iranian children in classrooms.
But after years of economic mismanagement, crippling inflation, and international sanctions, the regime now sees this same population as a liability—economically, politically, and demographically. The once-tolerant rhetoric of “brotherhood” has been replaced by concerns about “social disorder,” “demographic imbalance,” and “cultural threats.”
Officials now claim Afghan birth rates are dangerously higher than those of Iranian citizens. Parliamentary members speak of “Afghan-occupied neighborhoods” and warn that cities like Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad are becoming “unrecognizable.” Popular media outlets—especially regime-aligned ones—echo this narrative, painting refugees as criminals or foreign agents.
A municipally agent from Abdan, in #Iran’s southern Bushehr Province, was caught on video beating an Afghan immigrant child who was working as a street vendor on Saturday, July 20.https://t.co/lDb9QFMi9Y pic.twitter.com/ZE8BpSRN2Y
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 23, 2019
Legal Cover for Repression
To legitimize the crackdown, the regime has established a “National Immigration Organization” to centralize control over migrants. New rules threaten employers of undocumented Afghans with fines, criminalize visa overstays beyond six months, and restrict legal residency to six narrow categories.
But behind this bureaucratic facade lies a deeper injustice. Most Afghan refugees in Iran are second or third generation, fluent in Persian and raised in Iranian society—yet still denied citizenship, legal jobs, or banking access.
Many fled Taliban rule seeking education for their daughters. Now, even those with legal status face deportation as visas go unrenewed. Children who came for schooling are being sent back to a country where they have no future.
More #Iran Regime's Militants Die in #Syria
Five fighters from the Iran-backed #Afghan Fatimioun militia have been killed in Syria, whilst fighting on behalf of the Bashar Assad dictatorship… https://t.co/3oVJuYJ4MF pic.twitter.com/HRxff2ylvf— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 16, 2018
A Pattern of Injustice
The regime’s mistreatment of Afghan refugees is part of a larger pattern. At home, it jails protesters, executes dissidents, and targets minorities. Abroad, it fuels proxy wars from Yemen to Lebanon. Now, it directs that same cruelty at refugees who sought only safety and dignity.
Scapegoating Afghans serves a cynical purpose: to deflect from the regime’s own failures—economic collapse, political disarray, and rising unrest. By labeling refugees as “spies” or “threats,” the state disguises repression as national defense.
#Afghan MPs and Officials Oppose Presence of Afghan Militants in #Iran's Terrorist Quds Force https://t.co/RmxPWpZHrF pic.twitter.com/mCOq9nLqE2
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) November 29, 2017
A Crisis Without Resolution
The UN estimates that more than one million Afghans have been expelled from Iran and Pakistan in 2025 alone. Iran’s regime continues to expand walls, surveillance systems, and armed patrols along its eastern frontier.
With more than six million Afghans still estimated to live in Iran, the crisis shows no sign of slowing. But the regime’s approach is not one of resolution, only repression.
What we are witnessing is not the collapse of a policy, but the collapse of a moral principle: the idea that human dignity transcends borders.