Iran Expels 4,000 Afghan Refugees From Kerman In Two Weeks

Mehdi Bakhshi, the Chief Prosecutor of Kerman Province in Iran, announced the mass arrest and deportation of Afghan migrants in recent weeks. According to him, over 4,000 undocumented Afghan nationals were detained and deported within just 15 days.

Earlier, Amin Yadegarnajad, Deputy Operational Commander of Kerman Police, revealed that in the year 1403 (2024–2025), 34,706 Afghan migrants without legal residency documents were expelled from the province. He also urged Iranian citizens to cooperate with law enforcement in identifying undocumented migrants.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that in 2024 alone, over 1.2 million Afghan migrants returned from Iran, with 67% of them forcibly deported. This reflects a broader trend of increasing deportations amid tightening immigration policies in Iran.

Previously, Nader YarAhmadi, head of the Iranian Interior Ministry's Migration Center, disclosed that over 3 million Afghan migrants had been deported from Iran in the last three years, underlining the scale of the migrant crisis.

The Taliban's Acting Minister for Refugees and Repatriation, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, met with Mohammad Reza Bahrami, Director General for South Asia at Iran's Foreign Ministry, to propose a joint working group for addressing Afghan returns. The meeting aimed at establishing a coordinated plan for repatriation.

In response, Bahrami invited Abdul Kabir to visit Tehran, requesting that the Taliban first draft a comprehensive proposal outlining their strategy for repatriation. This plan is expected to form the basis of future discussions between the two sides.

As deportations continue at scale, both countries face growing pressure to find a humanitarian and strategic solution for managing the return of Afghan migrants, especially in light of Afghanistan's ongoing economic and security challenges.

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