Iranian authorities have detained 1,494 undocumented Afghan nationals in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan over the past week, according to Colonel Alireza Deliri, deputy commander of the province’s law enforcement.
In a statement reported by Iranian media, Deliri said that the arrests were part of a broader operation, known as “Operation Hijrat,” aimed at identifying and apprehending undocumented foreign nationals. “Following legal coordination, police successfully detained 1,494 undocumented individuals across the province over the past seven days,” Deliri said.
He added that all those detained were Afghan citizens who had entered Iran without proper documentation.
The detentions come as both Iran and Pakistan have ramped up deportations of Afghan migrants. According to the Taliban-run Bakhtar News Agency, 176 Afghan families were deported from Iran and Pakistan on Sunday, September 15. The deportations were described as both “voluntary and forced.”
The agency reported that the deportees returned to Afghanistan through border crossings in the provinces of Nangarhar, Kandahar, Nimroz, and Herat. Specifically, 20 families re-entered via the Torkham crossing, 43 through Spin Boldak, 78 via the Silk Bridge border, and 35 through Islam Qala.
Meanwhile, Akbar Arabi, commander of Pishva city in Iran, reiterated the country’s commitment to intensifying efforts to arrest and deport undocumented Afghan migrants. In an interview with Iran’s ISNA news agency, Arabi emphasized that employing undocumented migrants is also illegal and subject to legal consequences.
Pakistan has similarly continued its forced deportation of Afghan migrants, adding to the mounting pressures on displaced Afghans in the region.
