Iran’s Law Enforcement Command (Faraja) has announced the deportation of more than one million undocumented migrants over the past year, though it did not provide a breakdown by nationality.

Saeed Montazerolmahdi, spokesperson for Faraja, told Mehr News Agency on Sunday that in the year 2024, over 1.12 million “undocumented foreign nationals” were identified and expelled.

The large-scale operation was carried out through more than 1,090 coordinated enforcement plans across Iran, targeting individuals without valid residency documents.

While the nationalities of the deported migrants were not specified, Iran’s Foreign Ministry has previously estimated that between 2 and 2.5 million undocumented Afghan nationals are currently residing in the country. According to the Ministry of Interior, these individuals are to be returned to Afghanistan.

Ahmad Masoumifar, head of the Foreign Ministry’s northeast regional office, stated earlier that deportation of these migrants does not require coordination with any other country. He emphasised that under Iranian policy, undocumented Afghans must leave—either voluntarily or by enforcement.

Masoumifar added that the Taliban government “understands this policy” and does not defend those who have entered Iran illegally. He also said Iran has shown “generosity” toward migrants over the past three years, but now that Afghanistan has achieved “relative stability,” there is no longer justification for their continued presence.