Iran expelled more than 1.8 million undocumented migrants who are mainly Afghans over the past year, an interior ministry official said on Sunday, adding that at least 800,000 more must leave under the government’s removal plan.
The program began with classifying migrants into legal and illegal groups to provide services to the former and facilitate the return of the latter, Nader Yarahmadi, Head of the Interior Ministry’s Center for Foreign Nationals and Migrants.
“From the total 1,833,636 undocumented migrants who left, 1.2 million departures occurred this year alone,” Yarahmadi said.
“More than 70 percent of these undocumented migrants went back home with their families,” he said.
Yarahmadi added that the expulsions are not over. “At least 800,000 more people must be removed as undocumented migrants, which is on the agenda in the next phases,” he said.
Crackdown after ceasefire with Israel
Iran launched a sweeping crackdown on Afghan migrants in the wake of a ceasefire with Israel, targeting them for deportation and alleged security threats.
Taliban authorities have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in western Afghanistan due to the rapid influx.
Over the decades, Afghan migrants have been treated as expendable tools in Tehran’s shifting policies in the region. They were recruited to fight in Syria as part of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, exploited as cheap undocumented labor inside Iran, and periodically threatened with mass expulsion in bouts of official populism. During moments of domestic discontent, Afghan migrants became convenient targets to deflect public anger.
Following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, a massive influx of Afghan refugees entered Iran and as many as two million Afghans crossed the border within two years.
Rather than developing a comprehensive migration policy, authorities allowed border regions to turn into chaotic transit points run by smugglers and corrupt officials.
Officials insist the expulsions will continue until the number of foreign residents matches what they describe as the country’s designed capacity.
