ALBAWABA - The Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) in Iran banned millions of Afghani refugees from entering nearly half of all provinces across the country.
Hamzeh Soleimani, Director General for Foreign Nationals and Immigrants’ Affairs of the office of the governor of Kermanshah in western Iran Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) that the ban includes Kermanshah Province.
Soleimani said that authorities in Kermanshah have executed a canvassing campaign where they cracked down on construction sites, greenhouses, horse stables, and cattle farms where Afghani refugees are usually employed, on nine different occasions, to identify, detain and expel "illegal foreign nationals".
The ban came to life following the tragic stabbing of 2 Iranian teenagers to death in a street fight with Afghan youths. Police claimed to have arrested the accused.
Protests swamped the Meybod city in the eastern Yazd Province and demanded the expulsion of Afghan refugees. Afghans, often referred to simply as ‘foreign nationals’ by officials and the media, make up the majority of immigrants in Iran.
Iranian media say the ban includes the northwestern and western provinces of East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan, Hamedan, Kordestan, Kermanshah, Ilam, and Lorestan, as well as the northern provinces of Gilan, and Mazandaran, Iran International reported.
The southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, a major channel of Afghan immigration to Iran, and the southern Hormozgan province have also been designated as banned zones for all Afghans.
Only 780,000 Afghans living in Iran have official refugee status, leaving the majority undocumented.
The rapid rise of the Afghan population in Iran over the last two years has become controversial, with some news outlets and politicians claiming that authorities intentionally encourage Afghan population growth and warning of a "threat to national security."
Anti-Afghan opinions have risen rapidly over Iran in the last year, with some ultra-nationalists opposed to the Islamic Republic lobbying on social media for the expulsion of all Afghans on racial grounds.
