Afghan Refugees in Iran

A mine explosion on the border between Iran and Iraq claimed the life of an illegal Afghan migrant and injured four others, the governor of the western Iranian town of Mehran said on Friday. 

The foreign minister of the caretaker government in Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi visited representatives of Afghan migrants in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on Monday, calling on all Afghans in Iran to return to their homeland as he said the conditions are back to normal.

Amir Khan Mottaghi, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, expressed the nation's commitment to creating an environment conducive to the repatriation of Afghan immigrants.

Mulla Abul Ghani Baradar, the Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan's caretaker government for economic affairs, appreciated Tehran for sheltering Afghan refugees seeking asylum in the Islamic Republic over the past decades.

An Iranian official has denied reports that a UN authority had announced Afghan asylum-seekers expelled from Pakistan would be housed in Iran.

An Iranian parliamentarian says a program is underway to organize the presence of Afghan refugees in the country.

Iran says it will follow a stricter agenda to extradite illegal foreign migrants, a vast majority of them Afghans, to their home countries and will make the arrangements to organize the legal arrivals.

The United Nations has admired Iran, as the second largest host of refugees in the world, for its health services to Afghan refugees and has promised support for the future efforts.

An Iranian newspaper has warned against the security repercussions of the growing number of Afghan nationals entering the country.

Afghan nationals residing in Iran have gathered in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, from across the country to join a traditional wrestling competition.

The Iranian Interior Ministry says Tehran will give residence services to the eligible Afghan refugees who took part in the 2016 and 2017 censuses.

The number of Afghan pupils at Iranian schools has increased by 40 percent to 800k from about 500k in previous years, an Iranian official says.

An Afghan national has killed six other Afghans and four Iranians in southeastern Iranian county of Rafsanjan in a stabbing spree following what the police called “personal differences”.

A United Nations refugee agency official has praised Iran for bending over backwards to improve living conditions for millions of refugees during the past four decades and especially after the Taliban takeover in neighboring Afghanistan last year which triggered an influx of refugees.

The Iranian Interior Ministry says all foreign nationals, who are staying in the country illegally, will be immediately deported if they fail to register with the ministry’s offices for registration of illegal immigrants by Wednesday.

Iran’s Interior Ministry says Afghans who fail to participate in an ongoing census for foreigners will be treated as illegal and deported from the country.

The Iranian interior minister says it’s mandatory for Afghan nationals living in Iran to take part in an ongoing census in the country.

Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi says all Afghan refugees in the country will be identified and registered.

An Iranian health expert warns that the country’s northeastern Khorasan Razavi, which borders Afghanistan, is facing the risk of a measles outbreak amid a rise in the cases of the highly-contagious disease in the neighboring country.

An Iranian daily warns against a rise in the number of Afghan refugees arriving in Iran every day, saying the total number of the refugees seeking shelter in the Islamic Republic has reached 8 million so far.

Iran’s deputy health minister says 164 measles cases have been detected in the country blaming it on the influx of Afghan refugees into Iran.

Iran’s interior minister Ahmad Vahidi has instructed the director general for foreign nationals’ affairs to extend young Afghan poet Najib Barvar’s visa asap.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has warned Europe that a great number of Afghan refugees will flood the continent if international promises to help the country tackle the problem of Afghan refugees، fail to materialize.

The Iranian foreign minister says Tehran does not have the capacities to provide Afghan refugees with services more than the current level.

Iran has called on European countries and international organizations to fulfill their commitments regarding Afghan refugees.