About five million Afghan migrants are currently living in Iran, an Iranian official said, as Tehran steps up deportations of undocumented immigrants amid growing economic and security pressures.
Nader Yar-Ahmadi, head of Iran’s Centre for Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs at the interior ministry, said around 1.6 million undocumented Afghans had been expelled since the launch of a campaign targeting unauthorised migrants.
“These individuals have been removed from the total number of Afghan nationals in the country,” Yar-Ahmadi told Iran’s ISNA news agency. “If we subtract the 1.6 million deported from the estimated 6.1 million Afghans previously present, about 4.5 million remain in Iran.”
He added that between 400,000 and 500,000 Afghans were considered a “floating population,” citing continued irregular crossings along Iran’s borders.
Yar-Ahmadi said re-entry by undocumented Afghan migrants had increased recently, despite intensified enforcement measures.
Iran has in recent months accelerated forced and voluntary returns of Afghans, deporting on average up to 400 people per day in recent weeks, according to Iranian media reports. The pace of expulsions has increased since Iran’s brief but intense conflict with Israel earlier this year.
The move has drawn criticism from human rights organisations and migrant advocates, who have warned that many returnees face poverty, insecurity and limited access to basic services in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Iran has long hosted one of the world’s largest Afghan refugee populations, many of whom fled decades of war, economic hardship and, more recently, restrictions imposed by the Taliban since their return to power in August 2021. Aid agencies say mass returns risk deepening Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, with millions already dependent on international assistance.
