The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Nearly 2 million undocumented Afghans have been deported from Iran since March 2025, an Iranian Interior Ministry spokesman said, as Tehran continues its campaign to remove migrants without legal residency documents.
Ali Zeynivand, a spokesman for Iran’s Interior Ministry, said the deportations are continuing as part of a government effort to regulate the presence of foreign nationals in Iran, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
Zeynivand said about 2 million Afghans without legal residency documents have been deported since the beginning of the Iranian year 1404, which began in March 2025. More than 200,000 of them, he said, have been deported since the beginning of the current Iranian year.
He said the campaign does not mean that all Afghans in Iran are being deported. Afghans with legal residency documents can remain in the country but are required to contribute to the cost of some public services, including health care and government subsidies, he said.
Zeynivand also said a bill to establish a National Migration Organization is in the final stages of review by Iran’s parliament and is expected to be finalized soon.
The large-scale deportation of Afghans from Iran has raised concerns among the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, which have repeatedly warned of the serious consequences of mass returns for Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is already facing a severe humanitarian and economic crisis and has limited resources and services to accommodate large numbers of returnees.
Iran has hosted millions of Afghans over several decades, including people who fled conflict, political instability and economic hardship in Afghanistan.
