{"id":1239,"date":"2026-04-08T10:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gold-tapir-911468.hostingersite.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/afghans-in-iran-are-fleeing-bombs-and-iranian-crackdowns\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T08:55:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:55:37","slug":"afghans-in-iran-are-fleeing-bombs-and-iranian-crackdowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/afghans-in-iran-are-fleeing-bombs-and-iranian-crackdowns\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghans in Iran are fleeing bombs, and Iranian crackdowns"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/article>\n
<\/article>\n
After 30 years in Iran, Noorullah found himself on a bus in the Afghan city of Herat. He clutched all the documents that made up the life of his 21-year-old son, Rohullah, who was the reason his family was headed back to Kabul for the first time in decades.<\/article>\n
Rohullah was killed instantly when a missile struck the Tehran apartment complex he had been staying in: \u201cMy son was martyred,\u201d Noorullah said.<\/article>\n
\n

The 41-year-old and his family stayed in Tehran even after his parents had returned to Afghanistan during Israel\u2019s 12-day<\/a> bombardment of Iran last June, but Rohullah\u2019s 4 March killing by US and Israeli fire proved too much for the family to bear. \u201cHe was visiting a friend. He overslept. They hit the building,\u201d Noorullah said, haltingly. \u201cIt happened in broad daylight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rohullah\u2019s killing puts him among an estimated 3,500 people<\/a> killed in Iran since 28 February, when Washington and Tel Aviv launched their assaults \u2013 nominally against the Islamic Republic government, but also targeting civilian infrastructure. It also confirms<\/a> that Afghan nationals have been killed by US and Israeli firepower.<\/p>\n

Now, Rohullah\u2019s family are among a rising number of Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan \u2013 by choice or by force \u2013 since the bombardments began. An estimated three million Afghans<\/a> live precariously in neighbouring Iran, where they have faced abuse<\/a>, violence<\/a>, discrimination<\/a>, and racism<\/a> for decades.<\/p>\n

Those returning now describe scenes of chaos and fear caused by the attacks \u2013 and by renewed pressure and scapegoating from Iranian authorities.<\/p>\n

Ahmad Zia, who was also on the bus bound for Kabul, says Noorullah\u2019s family\u2019s loss is clear proof that civilian targets in urban centres remain under attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cHospitals, commercial buildings, universities \u2013 nothing was safe\u201d in Iran, Ahmad Zia said.<\/p>\n

Iranian authorities have deported at least 26,000 Afghans since the US and Israel launched their \u201cpre-emptive<\/a>\u201d assault on Iran on 28 February, according to the UN\u2019s refugee agency<\/a>, UNHCR. More than 150,000 Afghans have returned this year \u2013 nearly 80% of them by force.<\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s one corner of a bigger picture showing how the conflict has seen humanitarian impacts spiral. Israeli strikes have forced one million people in Lebanon<\/a> to flee, 200,000 people have crossed into Syria, and 60,600 Iranians have fled west to T\u00fcrkiye, UNHCR reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Missile strikes and extortion<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Within Iran<\/a>, up to one million households have been displaced<\/a> through the first month of the conflict. Iran\u2019s foreign ministry says 600<\/a> educational institutions, including schools, have come under attack. The World Health Organization says at least 20 health facilities<\/a> have been targeted as of 1 March. And last week, US President Donald Trump gloated about hitting a key bridge<\/a> that connects Tehran to the Caspian Sea while simultaneously warning<\/a> that there would be \u201cmuch more\u201d to follow.<\/p>\n

Basira, who spent 10 years in the central city of Isfahan, says the fear of falling bombs was ever-present, even in the nation\u2019s third most populous city. \u201cThey struck two streets on either side of our building,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hafizullah, a 45-year-old tailor, says Basira\u2019s and Noorullah\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompared to this, Afghanistan is much safer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Not all the returns were by choice, though. Iranian authorities continue to target and deport Afghans \u2013 despite reports of more than 1,200 Israeli munitions<\/a> being dropped on a single day, attacks on major steel plants<\/a>, the destruction of a seawater desalination plant<\/a>, and Trump\u2019s continued threats of bombing<\/a> the nation\u2019s electricity grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey search phones claiming you could be spies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gotten worse, not better,\u201d Mostafa, who spent three years in Tehran, said of racism<\/a> Afghans have been subjected to for decades in Iran. As with last June\u2019s<\/a> Israeli attacks, Afghans are once again coming under suspicion. \u201cThey search phones claiming you could be spies,\u201d Mostafa said.<\/p>\n

Like in their Gulf neighbours<\/a>, in Iran even filming an attack can get you arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone takes a picture of some smoke or debris they could be thrown in jail,\u201d Mostafa said. This suspicion has given authorities free rein to search people\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen one man asked why, the police just responded, \u2018I didn\u2019t like your face,\u2019\u201d Mostafa said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police burned their documents and deported them with their passports, stamping their exits then and there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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<\/em> cards, which the UN says<\/a> grant \u201cholders temporary stay in the designated area for the period of their validity and enable the holders to apply for work permits,\u201d they were unable to obtain the temporary laissez-passer documents needed to travel to another province for safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to explain that this isn\u2019t normal circumstances, all the government offices are shut due to the war, but they wouldn\u2019t listen,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 at least 1,000 kilometres by road.<\/p>\n

Ahmad Zia returned as part of a group of 14 with his cousin\u2019s family. He said his greatest expense came from paying fees required to leave the detention centres, which he says have been \u201coverflowing\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Mostafa puts the extortion and bribery simply: \u201cThey made a business out of us Afghans. Every time we would turn around there would be some other fee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Razia says even the bus drivers have gotten in on the extortion: \u201cWhen we got near the border, the driver turned to all of us and said, \u2018Pay me a transport fare or I will turn around and send you all back to the detention centres.\u2019 We had no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basira, the 21-year-old returnee, says her final memories of Iran, where she had spent half her life, are of being extorted, \u201cthe entire way to the border, we were constantly asked for money.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this reason, she is glad to be back in her own country.<\/p>\n

\u201cRefugee life is very difficult, we pray that things will be good in Kabul so we don\u2019t have to leave our country again,\u201d she said as the bus engine in Herat started to rev up.<\/p>\n

Several of the people interviewed in this story requested that their surnames not be used due to privacy and security concerns.<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/article>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Ali M. Latifi<\/a><\/h3>\n

Asia Editor<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Farzad Rahimi<\/a><\/h3>\n

Journalist and entrepreneur based in Herat, Afghanistanr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 30 years in Iran, Noorullah found himself on a bus in the Afghan city of Herat. He clutched all the documents that made up the life of his 21-year-old son, Rohullah, who was the reason his family was headed back to Kabul for the first time in decades.<\/p>\n

Rohullah was killed instantly when a missile struck the Tehran apartment complex he had been staying in: \u201cMy son was martyred,\u201d Noorullah said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1273,"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions\/1273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-secularist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}