Iran has built a wall more than 10 kilometers long on the border with Afghanistan, the main crossing point for Afghan migrants into the country, an army chief announced on Monday, quoted by a local media outlet.
“More than 10 kilometers of wall have been built on the border [avec l’Afghanistan] and an additional 50 kilometers are planned,” said the deputy commander of the Army’s land forces, General Nozar Nemati.
On September 9, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni announced the “complete” closure of the borders, adding that the country was “no longer able to accommodate such a number of Afghan immigrants.”
Since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021, the flow of Afghan migrants to Iran has increased.
According to the latest government figures released in August, the country hosts “more than 2.7 million regular Afghan refugees,” or “97% of all legal migrants.”
Iran has not provided the total number of Afghan migrants on its soil, but one MP, Abolfazl Torabi, recently estimated their number at “between six and seven million”.
Iran shares a border with Afghanistan of more than 900 km.
“By blocking the border, we want to control the entries and exits” of the country and “strengthen security in the border areas,” added General Nemati on Monday.
Authorities have increased pressure on “illegal” refugees in recent months and regularly announce expulsions.
On September 13, the spokesman for the parliamentary National Security Committee, Ebrahim Rezai, announced that the police planned to “deport more than two million” illegal immigrants in the near future.