Iran says one million undocumented Afghan refugees have returned to their country with the majority of them voluntarily in the last six and half months criticising the international donors for their less-than-savoury contribution to the refugee programmes.
“About one million undocumented Afghan refugees have left Iran to their homeland through the Dogharoun border crossing since 21 March, marking start of the new year in Iran,” said the governor of Taybad in Khorasan Razavi Province, Hossein Jamshidi.
He told the Administrative Council members of the eastern county bordering Afghanistan that 90% of unauthorised Afghan citizens voluntarily arrived at the Dogharoun border to return to their country, according to IRNA news agency.
Last month, Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said during a visit to the border with Afghanistan that 2 million undocumented Afghans are still in Iran.
“By March 20 next year,” he added, “the government is preparing for the gradual repatriation of around one more million undocumented Afghans who entered the country illegally.”
Iran plans to reduce the total number of documented refugees to 3 million to match the 3% global standard as its current population of 87 million is expected to hit 90 million next year.
In the meantime, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has praised Iran’s services to Afghan immigrants in a meeting between its Senior Director of Office of Strategy and Organizational Performance, Kim Eling and the Deputy Minister of Interior, Seyed Mohammad Bathaei, in Geneva, IRNA reported.
In the meeting held on Monday on the sidelines of the 76th session of the Executive Committee of the UN Refugee Agency, Eling appreciated Iran’s efforts in hosting Afghan nationals, and cited the reduction in the aid from donor countries as the main challenge, the report said.
“Despite the cruel sanctions, we have provided outstanding services to the Afghan refugees over the past four decades,” the Iranian official said slamming the weak international support.
He expressed hope that donor countries will allocate appropriate financial assistance to the refugee welfare programs in Iran.
The majority of refugees are Afghan nationals who fled to neighbouring Iran from the Soviet Union’s occupation and the civil war in their country in the last 40 years.
On Monday, Iran and Pakistan which are shouldering the burden of refugees’ influx from the war-torn Afghanistan, discussed the developments in their neighbouring country ahead of Moscow Format meeting in Moscow.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Director General of South Asia Mohammadreza Bahrami and Pakistan’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq Khan met in the Russian capital prior to the 7th meeting of the Moscow Format of Consultations on Afghanistan which opened on Tuesday.
The Moscow Format on Afghanistan includes Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The foreign minister of Afghan’s interim administration Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday departed for Russia for the first time to attend the Moscow Format talks, local sources said.
In July, Russia recognised the Taliban administration as the official government of Afghanistan, making it the first country to do so.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the In...
The United States and Argentina have signed a framework agreement to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals on Thursday, reaffirming a shared com...
Ukraine says the second round of U.S.-brokered peace talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi is moving into separate working groups focused on specific issues,...
Russia said on Wednesday that the parties to the New START nuclear arms control treaty are no longer bound by its obligations or related declarations,...
Milan prosecutors have placed an elderly Italian man under investigation over allegations that foreigners paid to shoot at civilians during the 1990s ...
The United States and Iran will hold nuclear talks in Oman on Friday, a U.S. official confirmed on Wednesday, after earlier disagreements over the location and format of the negotiations raised doubts about whether diplomacy would proceed.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “should be very worried”, as efforts to establish a diplomatic path between Washington and Tehran appear to be breaking down.
Images from Iran's Paya (Tolu 3) Earth observation satellite have been officially displayed for the first time by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
Armed boats tried to intercept a vessel north of Oman on Tuesday in waters near the Strait of Hormuz, where heightened military activity and U.S.–Iran tensions are fuelling maritime security concerns.
Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío has denied that Havana and Washington have entered formal negotiations, countering recent assertions by U.S. President Donald Trump, while saying the island is open to dialogue under certain conditions.
Talks with the U.S. should be pursued to secure national interests as long as "threats and unreasonable expectations" are avoided, President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X on Tuesday (3 February).
Mexico said it will stop sending oil to Cuba as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the Caribbean nation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Tuesday (3 February) of exploiting a U.S.-backed energy ceasefire to stockpile weapons and launch large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukraine ahead of peace talks.
Paris prosecutors have summoned X chairman Elon Musk and former chief executive Linda Yaccarino for questioning in April as part of their probe into the X social media network, they said on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “should be very worried”, as efforts to establish a diplomatic path between Washington and Tehran appear to be breaking down.
Another shipment of grain was sent to Armenia via transit through Azerbaijani territory on 4 February. The latest delivery consisted of eight wagons carrying 560 tonnes of grain dispatched from Azerbaijan to Armenia.
Azerbaijan and Armenia used a high-profile international platform in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to underline growing trade ties, expanding cooperation and what both leaders described as an irreversible turn towards peace after decades of conflict.
Afghan officials and international partners met in Kabul on Wednesday (4 February) for the fourth meeting of the Doha Process Working Group on Counter-Narcotics, with officials citing a reduction in poppy cultivation to “nearly zero” as efforts to curb drug production and trafficking were reviewed.
Uzbekistan is accelerating plans to expand uranium production and deepen international nuclear cooperation, positioning the sector as a pillar of long-term industrial growth and resource security.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment