Iran: “Hatred Towards Afghans Has Grown So Much”

Afghans living in Iran have described arbitrary arrest, expulsion and confiscation of goods as Tehran stepped up deportations amid the chaos of the Iran-Israel war.

There are thought to be as many as six million Afghans living in neighbouring Iran, with a large influx following the Taleban takeover in 2021.

Iranian authorities have long been attempting to deport Afghans en masse; the 12-day war saw hostility rise as media reported that at least five Afghan citizens had been arrested and detaining for spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

The news sparked a wave of concern among the Afghan community, with many reporting losing their jobs as well as their assets and being forced to flee.

“Iranian prisons are full of Afghans who have been arrested on baseless accusations of collaborating with Mossad,” said Mohammad Sarwar, a 37-year-old who lived with his family near Shiroudi Street in Tehran.

Hostile media and propaganda during the days of war served to turn even ordinary people against Afghan migrants, he continued.

“The hatred toward Afghans had grown so much that employers wouldn’t even pay our wages,” Mohammad Sarwar said. “Many labourers were arrested on accusations of collaborating with Mossad.”

Khudadad, a 19-year-old from Ghor province, Afghanistan, who moved to Narmak, Tehran, seven months ago for work, also describing humiliating treatment at the hands of Iranian security forces

“They looked at us as if we were Mossad spies,” he told IWPR. “At checkpoints, the soldiers would carefully search our phones. If they found a video of the war, or the footage of bombings, or even an audio narration of the events, they would take us away to an unknown location.

Khudadad described constant fear caused by the rocket fire and drone clashes, exacerbated by unaffordable prices for basic goods – and no access to shelter.

“The price of a single loaf of bread, which used to be 5,000 tomans (eight US cents), rose to 20,000 tomans,” said, adding, “People fled their homes, but we Afghans had nowhere to go.”

While wealthier Iranians travelled to Turkey or northern Iran, those left behind had little choice but to take refuge in the capital’s network of metro tunnels.

Khudadad was among them, but nonetheless found himself singled out.

“The most common phrase we heard from armed Iranians during the days of war was ‘Filthy Afghans,’” said Khudadad.

“I spent 12 nights in metro tunnels, I was beaten. They even took my nail clipper and my cologne.”

Afghan migrants said that the growing suspicion and hostility towards them were as terrifying as the airstrikes.  

Mohammad Nasir, originally from Herat, had worked on a construction site for over a year.

“I was owed seven months of wages, but the fear of war and the uncertainty of those days forced me to abandon everything, including my wages,” he said. “I had no choice but to leave Iran and return to Afghanistan.”

Hamid, also from Herat in western Afghanistan, had lived with his family in Iran for the past nine years. He said that the treatment of migrants had ramped up after the official announcement of the arrest of five Afghans on espionage charges.

“In Tehran, factories involved in the production of drones and UAVs were operating legally, and Afghans were only working there as labourers,” he said. “But during the days of the war, even that simple work relationship became a pretext for humiliation and accusations against us.”

Even after Hamid decided to leave, the mistreatment continued.

“I asked my landlord to return the 150 million tomans (2,500 dollars) security deposit for the rent, but he refused,” he said.

As they made their way out of the country, his family was humiliated and beaten.

“Iranian border petrol searched even our shoes to see if we had hidden any money,” Hamid recalled. “At the city office in Mashhad [in northwestern Iran], right in front of my family, the security officers insisted I hand over 600,000 tomans (ten dollars). When I resisted, they beat me. My eye was injured.”

Fear and prejudice has forced even long-time Afghan residents to leave. Ezatullah, originally from Mehtarlam in Laghman province, has lived in Rafsanjan, Iran, for over 20 years. When the war began, he fled his home leaving all his belongings behind.

“My family and I hid in [another] house for three days. Eventually, warnings from Iranian authorities forced us to leave the country.” He is now deeply concerned about his family’s future.

Millions of Afghans have sought refuge in Iran during decades of fighting, with numbers surging following the Taleban takeover in the summer of 2021.

Last month, more than 256,000 left Iran, according to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), their departure fuelled by the war. Tehran has now ordered all undocumented Afghans to leave by July 6.

The mass returns risks further destabilising an internationally isolated country already undergoing a humanitarian crisis and with its economy in tatters.

“Just for being Afghan, we were accused of spying for Mossad,” Javad, an Afghan master’s student at a university in Tehran, told IWPR, adding that the security forces indiscriminately seized mobile phones, cash and even personal belongings.

Intelligence agents repeatedly raided his aunt’s house, he continued.

“They confiscated the mobile phones of two family members and about four million tomans in cash (66 US dollars). A few days later, they also took my cousins’ phones and another 25 million tomans (416 dollars).”

Javad was living near the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) building, struck by Israeli forces on June 16 during a live broadcast.

Overwhelmed by his experiences, he has since returned to his home province of Ghor in central Afghanistan, crossing the border into the city of Islam Qala on June 24.

"Although I am in Afghanistan, the sounds of explosions still echo in my head,” he said. “My mind is not at peace.