Iran is launching a mass deportation program to forcibly send 2 million illegal immigrants back to Afghanistan within just six months, and shops in one province have already been ordered not to sell food to Afghans.
In some areas Afghan nationals have had their phone sim cards blocked, while in others they are being charged higher prices than locals and prohibited from renting homes. In south Kerman it is now illegal for bakeries to sell bread to foreigners.
A sign at one bakery reads “By order of the honourable judge: Selling bread to non-nationals is forbidden” and said that any violations would be punishable by law, the Telegraph reported.
Police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan announced this week that police were already working to remove “unauthorised foreign nationals” along with the Interior Ministry and dump them across the border where a 2.1m wall is also being constructed.
Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said: “Afghans are cultivated people, but our country cannot receive so many migrants.
“We plan to handle these matters in an orderly fashion and without much fuss. Our priority lies with irregular migrants.”
The UN estimates that 4.5 million Afghans are living in Iran, but local news agencies say the real number could be as high as 8 million.
The massive numbers of undocumented Afghan workers have flooded the labour market where they outcompete locals for jobs in construction and agriculture, leading to petitions calling for deportations.
Anti-immigrant sentiment is also high due to near-daily reports of rapes and murders allegedly committed by Afghan refugees along with rising prices and the overburdened health and welfare systems.
Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian promised to secure the Afghan border during his election campaign, and about 625,000 Afghan immigrants left the country in 2023.
One Afghan citizen who has been living near the capital Tehran for the last 20 years said he has never seen such an intense anti-Afghan attitude.
“We have legal documents, yet we still cannot go anywhere – some ordinary Iranians sometimes even spit on us for no reason, life has become difficult,” he said.
“There are signs outside parks that say ‘Afghans and dogs are not allowed to enter’ – they claim we’re taking their jobs but no Iranian would do the hard labour that Afghans would do.”
Videos on social media show police cracking down on Afghan immigrants, with one viral clip showing a “Afghan George Floyd” being knelt on by officers.
The mass deportation push comes after neighbouring Pakistan removed 540,000 illegal immigrants, mainly Afghans, between November and January.
A further 110,000 left voluntarily during the same period.
Pictured above: Police arresting Afghan immigrants, left. A viral clip of a teenager dubbed the “Afghan George Floyd” being arrested, right.
