We, the collective action of 23 independent Iranian women’s organizations, strongly condemn this “security project” and the racist expulsion of Afghan migrants and refugees. We regard these actions as part of the regime’s broader policy to suppress marginalized communities and social movements during its weakest political and economic moment.
Afghan migrants and refugees are an integral part of Iranian society, yet they remain among its most vulnerable groups. During the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, they stood alongside Iranian women and men in resisting the oppressive regime, and many lost their lives in the struggle. We still remember the slogan ‘From Kabul to Tehran, down with the Taliban,’ and how we stood together as comrades in the fight against both Taliban-like regimes. In this context, the silence of major media outlets signals complicity with the inhumane Islamic Republic regime.
Following the declared ceasefire of Israel and the U.S. military attacks on Iran, the repressive and misogynistic Islamic Republic has attempted to justify the ongoing political and economic crisis by fueling anti-Afghan sentiment and criminalizing Afghan migrants and refugees with accusations such as “spying for Israel.” This is a clear attempt to distract from the regime’s failures in responding to the demands of its own people.
Even prior to the military attacks by Israel and the U.S., over 1.2 million Afghan migrants were collectively deported from Iran and Pakistan, relying on structural and cultural racism. Since the brief ceasefire, an additional 700,000 Afghans—many of them families—have been violently expelled or forced to return. The daily deportation rate has surged from 2,000 before the attacks to over 30,000 now. According to the Deputy Governor of Khorasan Province Razavi, “as of July 3, 380,000 Afghan migrants have been deported through the Dogharoun border in a short time.” Among the deportees are about 80,000 children, some of whom are unaccompanied minors.
Of course, this anti-immigrant and forced deportation policy is a global phenomenon used to address political and economic crises in capitalist systems—exemplified by Trump’s mass arrest and deportation of migrants in the United States. Europe is no exception. Some Iranian migrants in the U.S. are also among the detained, despite the fact that such policies contradict international refugee conventions and universal principles of human rights.
We demand the immediate halt of deportations and forced returns of Afghan migrants and refugees who have been compelled to flee due to the Taliban regime’s system of war and repression—a regime that has destroyed the foundations of life, education, and safety for women and minorities.
We must not remain silent in the face of these crimes and the fascist policies of the Islamic Republic. The regime is using war conditions to crush marginalized people and civil and social movements. Indifference to this process is complicity with the Islamic Republic’s structural violence.
No to racism. No to war.
Resistance is life.
Woman, Life, Freedom.
July 7, 2025
Together for Women’s Health Foundation
Free Iranian Women’s Association – Italy
Dallas Iranian Women’s Association
Iranian-German Women’s Association in Cologne, Germany
Iranian Women’s Association of Parto
Iranian Women’s Association Montreal
MeToo Movement Iran
Iranian Circle of Women for International Networking (ICWIN)
Women for Sustainable Freedom and Equality
Iranian Women Activists in Exile – Berlin
IKERO Women’s Rights Organization
IWIN Iranian Women in Network
The Organization for Emancipation of Women
Everyday Feminism
Forum of Iranian Women in Vienna
Collective of Woman, Life, Freedom – Rome
Campaign to Stop Honor Killings
Gender Equality Committee of Solidarity of Iranian Republicans
Left Unity of Women
Zanan Group in Northern California
Orange County Women’s Study Group
Mannav LGBTQ Community – Sweden
Iranian Women’s Assembly in Hanover