Iran has arrested hundreds of Afghan citizens and members of religious and ethnic minorities on charges of espionage, the UN special rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said on Saturday.
The arrests come amid a sharp increase in deportations and growing concerns over mistreatment of Afghan migrants in Iran.
In a post on the social platform X, Bennett said Iranian media have also been promoting discriminatory rhetoric, portraying Afghans and minorities as traitors and using “dehumanizing language” to encourage violence and social hostility.
“Hundreds of Afghans and members of ethnic and religious minorities detained in Iran accused of ‘espionage’. Also reports of incitement to discrimination and violence in the media labeling Afghans and minority communities as traitors and using dehumanising language,” he wrote.
The report follows mounting tension at Iran’s eastern border, where deportations through the Dogharoon and Silk Bridge crossings have surged. Since late June, the number of Afghan migrants expelled daily has risen to 43,000, according to the UN refugee agency.
Hussein Jamshidi, the district governor of Taybad in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi Province, said only 20 percent of those leaving through Dogharoon had valid passports or legal residency. “The remaining 80 percent were in Iran without authorization,” he said, warning that expulsions would intensify after July 5.
Iran’s Interior Minister, Esmail Momeni, confirmed that a new national migration policy has been drafted and submitted to Parliament. “All branches of government must coordinate to ensure the detention and removal of undocumented migrants,” he said in a recent statement.
As deportations accelerate, aid agencies report that many returnees are arriving in Afghanistan traumatized, destitute, and separated from their families. A recent report by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) noted that many had lost all possessions and endured arrest, sudden eviction, and abusive detention conditions in Iran.
Women and girls are particularly vulnerable upon return. Those interviewed by the agency described facing new restrictions and harassment under Taliban rule, with some recounting discrimination and intimidation since arriving back in Afghanistan in recent months.
The mass deportations have drawn criticism from international human rights organizations and refugee advocates, who say Tehran is violating the rights of displaced people and contributing to Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian crisis.
So far this year, more than 1.4 million Afghans have returned — voluntarily or by force — from Iran and Pakistan. The UN says the influx is compounding an already dire humanitarian situation marked by widespread unemployment, poverty, and the aftermath of natural disasters.
