TEHRAN — An estimated 800,000 undocumented Afghan migrants currently living in Tehran are now considered to be in the country illegally and face arrest and deportation, according to Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian, the governor of Tehran.
“These individuals are now residing illegally,” Motamedian said in remarks published this week. “If identified, they will be detained and returned to Afghanistan.”
The comments follow recent statements by Iran’s interior ministry spokesperson, who said up to four million Afghan nationals — including two million whose registration documents have expired — are expected to leave Iran by July 6, 2025.
Meanwhile, a member of Iran’s parliament reported that nearly one million undocumented Afghans have been deported over the past eight months. However, he acknowledged that many of them return to Iran, either through legal channels or by crossing the border illegally.
The International Organization for Migration has voiced growing alarm over the surge in forced returns. In May alone, the IOM recorded the expulsion of more than 15,675 Afghan families from Iran — more than double the previous month and triple the figure from the same period last year.
Rights organizations and international agencies have repeatedly called on Iran and Pakistan to halt mass deportations, warning that the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan renders safe and voluntary return nearly impossible.
The growing pace of deportations from both Iran and Pakistan is expected to place considerable strain on Afghanistan’s limited reintegration infrastructure, raising fears of a deepening crisis for returnees with no shelter, employment, or access to services upon arrival.
“The conditions in Afghanistan simply do not support large-scale returns,” the IOM said in a recent statement, calling for immediate suspension of deportations until safeguards for returnees are established.
