Afghans in Iran are fleeing bombs, and Iranian crackdowns

The 41-year-old and his family stayed in Tehran even after his parents had returned to Afghanistan during Israel’s 12-day bombardment of Iran last June, but Rohullah’s 4 March killing by US and Israeli fire proved too much for the family to bear. “He was visiting a friend. He overslept. They hit the building,” Noorullah said, haltingly. “It happened in broad daylight.”

Rohullah’s killing puts him among an estimated 3,500 people killed in Iran since 28 February, when Washington and Tel Aviv launched their assaults – nominally against the Islamic Republic government, but also targeting civilian infrastructure. It also confirms that Afghan nationals have been killed by US and Israeli firepower.

Now, Rohullah’s family are among a rising number of Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan – by choice or by force – since the bombardments began. An estimated three million Afghans live precariously in neighbouring Iran, where they have faced abuse, violence, discrimination, and racism for decades.

Those returning now describe scenes of chaos and fear caused by the attacks – and by renewed pressure and scapegoating from Iranian authorities.

Ahmad Zia, who was also on the bus bound for Kabul, says Noorullah’s family’s loss is clear proof that civilian targets in urban centres remain under attack.

“Hospitals, commercial buildings, universities – nothing was safe” in Iran, Ahmad Zia said.

Iranian authorities have deported at least 26,000 Afghans since the US and Israel launched their “pre-emptive” assault on Iran on 28 February, according to the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR. More than 150,000 Afghans have returned this year – nearly 80% of them by force.

Iranian authorities routinely deport hundreds of thousands of Afghans a year. Humanitarian groups warn that Afghanistan may be poorly prepared to absorb large-scale returns, and that existing emergency aid programmes are already underfunded.

It’s one corner of a bigger picture showing how the conflict has seen humanitarian impacts spiral. Israeli strikes have forced one million people in Lebanon to flee, 200,000 people have crossed into Syria, and 60,600 Iranians have fled west to Türkiye, UNHCR reported.

Missile strikes and extortion

Within Iran, up to one million households have been displaced through the first month of the conflict. Iran’s foreign ministry says 600 educational institutions, including schools, have come under attack. The World Health Organization says at least 20 health facilities have been targeted as of 1 March. And last week, US President Donald Trump gloated about hitting a key bridge that connects Tehran to the Caspian Sea while simultaneously warning that there would be “much more” to follow.

Basira, who spent 10 years in the central city of Isfahan, says the fear of falling bombs was ever-present, even in the nation’s third most populous city. “They struck two streets on either side of our building,” she said.

Hafizullah, a 45-year-old tailor, says Basira’s and Noorullah’s stories makes it very clear what led the passengers on board that Mercedes bus to join the ranks of Afghans who have already returned since early March.

“Compared to this, Afghanistan is much safer,” he said.

Not all the returns were by choice, though. Iranian authorities continue to target and deport Afghans – despite reports of more than 1,200 Israeli munitions being dropped on a single day, attacks on major steel plants, the destruction of a seawater desalination plant, and Trump’s continued threats of bombing the nation’s electricity grid.

“They search phones claiming you could be spies.”

“It’s gotten worse, not better,” Mostafa, who spent three years in Tehran, said of racism Afghans have been subjected to for decades in Iran. As with last June’s Israeli attacks, Afghans are once again coming under suspicion. “They search phones claiming you could be spies,” Mostafa said.

Like in their Gulf neighbours, in Iran even filming an attack can get you arrested.

“If someone takes a picture of some smoke or debris they could be thrown in jail,” Mostafa said. This suspicion has given authorities free rein to search people’s phones. He says police striking Afghans on the street was a common sight. There have also been reports of volunteer Basij paramilitary forces being stationed along major roads.

“When one man asked why, the police just responded, ‘I didn’t like your face,’” Mostafa said.

Even those who had proper documentation at the time of their arrest were not spared, returnees told The New Humanitarian. Mostafa said he saw Afghans who had made it from Tehran to Mashhad, on the border with Herat, with their documents intact.

“The police burned their documents and deported them with their passports, stamping their exits then and there,” he said.

Other returnees reported similar harassment. Razia, 21, was born in Tehran. She said police stopped her and her husband, Massood, on their way to the northeastern city of Mashhad, which has largely been spared from the bombings. Though both husband and wife possessed government-issued amayesh cards, which the UN says grant “holders temporary stay in the designated area for the period of their validity and enable the holders to apply for work permits,” they were unable to obtain the temporary laissez-passer documents needed to travel to another province for safety.

“I tried to explain that this isn’t normal circumstances, all the government offices are shut due to the war, but they wouldn’t listen,” Razia said. The couple were immediately sent to a detention centre, where they were held for four days until they could find the money to pay for the bus fare back to Afghanistan.

Even the returnees who willingly chose to leave said they were made to pay exorbitant fees and bribes the entire way from Tehran and Isfahan to the Afghan border – at least 1,000 kilometres by road.

Ahmad Zia returned as part of a group of 14 with his cousin’s family. He said his greatest expense came from paying fees required to leave the detention centres, which he says have been “overflowing” since early March. Ahmad Zia says he paid nearly $500 to get all 14 people out. He says since the conflict began, the detention centre fee has more than tripled to about $35 per person. If your fingerprints revealed you had been caught in Iran several times, the rates kept increasing, up to the equivalent of $60 per person.

Mostafa puts the extortion and bribery simply: “They made a business out of us Afghans. Every time we would turn around there would be some other fee.”

Razia says even the bus drivers have gotten in on the extortion: “When we got near the border, the driver turned to all of us and said, ‘Pay me a transport fare or I will turn around and send you all back to the detention centres.’ We had no choice.”

Basira, the 21-year-old returnee, says her final memories of Iran, where she had spent half her life, are of being extorted, “the entire way to the border, we were constantly asked for money.”

For this reason, she is glad to be back in her own country.

“Refugee life is very difficult, we pray that things will be good in Kabul so we don’t have to leave our country again,” she said as the bus engine in Herat started to rev up.

Several of the people interviewed in this story requested that their surnames not be used due to privacy and security concerns.

The New Humanitarian puts quality, independent journalism at the service of the millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world. Find out more at www.thenewhumanitarian.org.