Displaced International Alarmed by Afghan Refugees in Iran Trapped Between War, Persecution, and Closed Borders
Displaced International is deeply concerned by the worsening plight of Afghan refugees as the U.S.-Israel-Iran war continues to claim civilian lives and deepen instability across the region. For Afghans in Iran, this expanding conflict is compounding an already acute protection crisis in a country where UNHCR says 1.65 million forcibly displaced people, mostly Afghans, are living amid growing humanitarian strain.
Afghan refugees are now trapped in an impossible condition. Many cannot return to Afghanistan because they continue to face serious protection risks, including human rights violations and heightened dangers for women, girls, and others at risk, as UNHCR has reiterated in its Afghanistan updates and non-return guidance.
At the same time, they cannot count on safety where they are. Ongoing bombardments, insecurity, and local deportation pressures are leaving many Afghans in Iran exposed to renewed displacement and fear, while IOM has warned that the regional escalation is disrupting civilian mobility, humanitarian access, and conditions for vulnerable migrant communities.
Nor can many safely move onward to third countries such as Türkiye. The journey is fraught with insecurity, harsh weather, smuggling risks, and increasingly restrictive anti-refugee measures, while recent asylum monitoring on Türkiye documents intensifying anti-refugee sentiment, deportation pressures, and access barriers affecting refugees, including Afghans.
Ambassador Ashraf Haidari, Founder and President of Displaced International, said: “Afghan refugees are being trapped between war, refoulement, and closed borders. They cannot safely return home because many still have well-founded fears of persecution and other serious harm in Afghanistan. They cannot be secure in Iran amid bombardment, insecurity, and deportation threats. And they cannot reliably move onward to safer countries because the routes are dangerous, the weather is harsh, and anti-refugee barriers are rising across the region. The international community must act urgently to protect Afghan refugees through restraint, humanitarian access, a halt to forced returns, and a meaningful expansion of safe pathways.”
Displaced International calls for immediate protection-centered action: an end to deportations and other coerced returns, a surge in emergency humanitarian assistance and legal protection for the most vulnerable, and a significant expansion of safe pathways, including resettlement, especially given UNHCR’s estimate that 573,400 Afghan refugees will need resettlement in 2026.
