Interior minister: UN should help Iran repatriate Afghans

The United Nations should offer greater cooperation to Iran in returning Afghans to their country, said the Iranian interior minister.

Speaking in a meeting of the committee of organizing foreign nationals in Iran, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli described the assistance with which the UN provides refugees in Iran as insufficient, IRNA reported.

Rahmani Fazli regretted that although the UN supervises the expenditure of the financial assistance it allocates to refugees in Iran, the sum is quite inadequate.

Calling on the organization to increase the amount, the minister said this is despite the considerable effort the Islamic Republic of Iran undertakes to accept and settle refugees and the favorable living conditions with which they are provided in the country.

He added that those foreign nationals who are living in Iran legally are required to submit their personal information to the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) of the Interior Ministry, and keep it updated throughout the year.

Speaking at the same meeting, Ahmad Mohammadifar, BAFIA’S director general, said that 2.5 million foreign nationals living illegally in Iran were identified and repatriated to their countries over the past four years.

According to a report presented at the meeting, 630,000 illegal immigrants have been returned from Iran to their respective countries since March 21, 2017.