More than 250,000 Afghan citizens left Iran in June as Tehran enforced strict repatriation deadlines, according to the UN migration agency. A record 28,000 Afghans departed in a single day last month.
Iran had ordered all unregistered Afghans to leave by July 6. The number of Afghan refugees in Iran has surged since the Taliban took power in 2021, leading to rising anti-Afghan sentiment and systemic discrimination.
The IOM reports over 700,000 Afghans have left Iran since January, with 70% forcibly repatriated. Tensions heightened further amid the Iran-Israel conflict, with Iran conducting mass arrests of Afghans on charges of treason and espionage during the fighting.
UN refugee coordinator Arafat Jamal said the repatriation movement began before the war but intensified during it, and border humanitarian operations are now “overwhelmed.”
Taliban officials said they are in talks with Iran over the crisis and working to transport returnees from the border to their home regions.
