Afghans deported from Iran amid a continuing crackdown on undocumented migrants said authorities there tortured them but deprivation back home was so extreme they are determined to return, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
Expulsions soared after a 12-day war with Israel in June in which Afghans were accused by officials of being potential fifth-columnists collaborating with Iran's foeas Tehran sought to boost populist bona fides after the bruising conflict.
Struggling with deepening economic malaise, Iran has been accused by rights groups of unfairly targeting the Afghan community as it faces dire poverty and repression by Taliban authorities back home.
More than 1.3 million Afghans have been expelled this year, many arriving exhausted and traumatized at the Islam Qala border crossing before being transferred to Herat, according to the report.
Deportees, including young men with scars on their bodies and faces, described violent arrests and beatings by Iranian police.
Rohullah Mohammadi said he was robbed and beaten, suffering an ear injury. “Is this how Islam is supposed to be practiced?” he asked.
Sky News said claims of mistreatment were submitted to Iranian authorities for comment, but no response was received.
Women and girls expressed despair over returning to Afghanistan, citing Taliban restrictions on education and employment.
One woman cried about unpaid work in Iran, while unaccompanied minors such as 15-year-old Tahir described over two weeks of abuse, being forced to sleep on concrete floors and kicked for protesting.
Despite the hardship, poverty forces many to consider returning. Tahir, reunited with his family after two years, said, “I love my homeland, but if there is no work here, how can I survive? I must work.”
His mother said life in Afghanistan is too difficult, while another young man supporting six family members said there are no local job opportunities.
Attempts by Afghan citizens to cross illegally into Iran have doubled over the past six months compared with the same period last year, a senior Iranian border commander said on Tuesday.
Iran set a September deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave, with reports indicating that even some legal residents were expelled.
Human rights groups warn that Afghanistan, already under strain from Taliban rule and Pakistani deportations, is nearing a breaking point.
The state-run Supreme Labor Council has approved successive annual increases, including a 45% rise for 2025 that set the base salary at roughly 104.4 million rials.
Yet at current market rates at about 1,160,000 rials per dollar, that monthly wage is worth about $90–$110 depending on benefits, compared with about $238–$300 in 2016 when the minimum was over 81 million rials (today less than $7) and the dollar traded near 34,000 rials, according to calculations cited by ILNA.
Labor activist Bahram Hassaninejad said the living standards of wage earners have “severely declined in both quality and quantity,” adding that many now work merely to survive.
He said the erosion of workers’ material and social standing has deepened over time, with little sign of recovery to conditions seen a decade ago. “Every administration that has come to power has only completed the anti-labor policies of the previous one,” he added.
According to labor groups, modest state subsidies and food vouchers have failed to close the widening gap between wages and living costs. Many workers now take on extra or informal jobs -- from driving and street vending to collecting recyclables --in an effort to keep their families afloat.
Regular labor protests have continued over worsening economic conditions. Demonstrators often hold signs reading, “Our wages are in rials, but the costs are in dollars,” highlighting how dollar-linked prices and imported goods have eroded real incomes despite repeated pay increases.
Independent estimates reported by Iranian outlets suggest today’s base wage covers only a fraction of a typical household’s monthly expenses.
One labor advocate said a standard basket of basic goods for a three-person family far exceeds the minimum salary, adding, “With this income, a family can only cover a few days of essential costs.”
Officials say annual wage-setting follows the law, which requires consideration of inflation and basic needs. Economists caution that large nominal raises, without broader reforms, can feed prices while failing to restore purchasing power.
The outlet said years of drought and groundwater depletion have left once-fertile fields barren, destroying local agriculture and livelihoods.
Farmers told ILNA that widespread crop failure has driven them to close their orchards and shops, with some families migrating to nearby towns.
“The salt-laden winds have made breathing painful. People are leaving,” one resident said.
Local officials warned that the storms -- clouds of fine salt lifted from the desiccated lakebed -- are contaminating soil and water and triggering respiratory and even cancer-related illnesses among remaining residents.
In the village of GovarchinGhale, population has dropped from more than 470 families to around 130, mostly elderly people, according to the village council.
ILNA cited environmental experts linking the worsening crisis to decades of overpumping and illegal wells.
Urmia County Governor Rasoul Moghabeli said the number of wells in the lake basin had surged from 7,000 to over 90,000 in recent years, putting dangerous pressure on the groundwater.
Officials from the Urmia Lake Restoration Headquarters denied reports of mass migration, saying the reports were politically motivated, but acknowledged that more than 90% of water consumption in the region goes to agriculture -- much of it for water-intensive crops such as apples and sugar beet.
They warned that unless irrigation practices are reformed and unauthorized farmland reclaimed, the salt storms could expand across northwestern Iran within a decade, threatening millions of residents.
The report comes as Iran faces a deepening nationwide water emergency with 19 major dams close to depletion.
