• Iran plans to deport two million Afghan migrants, sparking a humanitarian crisis marked by violent detentions and growing anti-Afghan sentiment
• The deportations are influenced by economic strain in Iran and a long-standing dispute with Afghanistan over water rights
Iran is planning to deport two million Afghan migrants over the next six months. This aggressive action, spearheaded by Iran’s national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan, has already led to violent detentions and deportations of Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan. The ongoing deportation initiative highlights both the humanitarian crisis at the Iran-Afghanistan border and the broader geopolitical tensions between the two nations.
According to the United Nations, around 4.5 million Afghans currently live in Iran, many of whom fled their homeland following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021. Iran, already grappling with its own economic challenges due to Western sanctions and governmental mismanagement, is taking drastic measures to stem the flow of migrants, including the construction of a 13-foot-tall wall along its 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan.
Authorities have implemented many discriminatory measures, such as banning shops in certain provinces from selling food to Afghans. A widely circulated video even shows police officers violently arresting an Afghan teenager, with one officer kneeling on his neck.
Despite widespread reports of food insecurity and famine in Afghanistan, Iran has been rapidly deporting tens of thousands of Afghans. Local witnesses have reported violent treatment of migrants by Iranian police, and many deported migrants have spoken of being detained in refugee camps before being forced back across the border.
One 13-year-old boy, arrested while buying bread, was deported without his family knowing. His father, once a high-ranking officer in the U.S.-backed Afghan government, expressed the difficulties of life in Iran, where migrants face increasing discrimination and restrictions, such as being banned from renting homes or buying groceries in certain areas. The boy eventually called his family from Afghanistan after a week of being missing.
The deportation program reflects growing anti-Afghan sentiment in Iran. Some Iranians blame the migrants for economic hardship, despite many Afghans taking on jobs that Iranians are unwilling to do. Reports have surfaced of Afghans being spat on, attacked, and denied access to public spaces, with signs in some areas reading, “Afghans and dogs are not allowed to enter.”
In some cities, thousands of Afghan migrants have had their phone SIM cards blocked, further isolating them. Bread and other essential goods are often sold to Afghans at inflated prices, exacerbating their already precarious living conditions.
Many observers believe that the mass deportations are not solely driven by economic concerns but are linked to a longstanding dispute over water rights between Iran and Afghanistan. Iran relies on the Helmand River, which flows from Afghanistan, for irrigating farmland in its southeastern regions. The Taliban has been accused of limiting the water supply by constructing dams, worsening relations between the two countries.
Clashes have occurred along the Afghan-Iranian border over water rights, in May of 2023, killing 2 Iranian border guards and 1 Taliban fighter.
“The real issue is the water,” a Taliban official stated, pointing to the political leverage Afghanistan holds in the water dispute. Iran, however, has not publicly acknowledged that water is the central issue driving the deportation campaign, focusing instead on its need to control illegal migration.
Despite the harsh deportation policies, many Afghans continue to pay smugglers to help them cross the border into Iran in search of better economic opportunities. Smugglers operating from Afghanistan’s Herat province play a key role in transporting people into Iran, even though many migrants are then held hostage by smugglers until their families can pay the demanded fees.
For many Afghan families, these dangerous journeys offer the only chance of survival, as war and famine threaten their lives back home. Smugglers profit from this desperation, with some charging up to £150 per person to cross into Iran—a month’s wage for many Iranian workers.
The forced deportation of Afghan migrants by Iran, compounded by the country’s deep economic struggles and political pressures, has created a humanitarian disaster. Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, pledged during his election campaign to secure the country’s borders and tackle the migrant crisis. His administration is also likely to negotiate with European countries to accept some Afghan migrants or provide assistance in accommodating them.
Yet, the challenges remain steep. If Iran’s economic conditions worsen further due to Western sanctions or internal mismanagement, more Afghans may continue to be deported, and tensions between Iranian citizens and Afghan migrants could escalate.
As Iran tightens its border security and continues the mass deportation campaign, the human cost of these actions is becoming more visible. The suffering of millions of Afghan migrants now faces a new chapter of hardship in neighbouring Iran, with no clear solution in sight.
