Up to 40 Afghan migrants die crossing into Iran in severe cold

Sources in Afghanistan's Herat province said the bodies of at least 15 migrants were transferred to the districts of Kohsan and Adraskan after they died on Iranian territory, with some estimates of the total death toll at around 40 people.

Afghanistan International, a sister channel of Iran International, spoke to an Afghan migrant who visited the morgues at Afghan cemeteries and Taybad hospital in Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province. The source said more than 40 Afghan migrants had died.

The figures have not been officially confirmed, and several migrants are still reported missing along the Iran-Afghanistan border.

Sources said hundreds of Afghans set out toward Iran in recent days and were caught in a severe cold wave along the route, which is ongoing.

The migrants were reportedly attempting to enter Iran through unofficial routes from Islam Qala toward the city of Taybad. Weather conditions in the border area have been described as extremely cold, with snow and heavy freezing rain.

Sources said families of the victims are searching for the bodies of their relatives.

Attempts by Afghan citizens to cross illegally into Iran doubled over the six-month period ending in October compared with the same period last year, a senior Iranian border commander said at the time, as Tehran accelerates deportations and tightens controls along its frontier with Afghanistan.

Over 1.6 million Afghan refugees and migrants have been expelled from Iran this year, according to Iranian authorities. The deportations sharply increased in June and July, following a brief war between Iran and Israel.

Iranian officials have cited national security as the primary justification, making unsubstantiated allegations that Afghans had acted as spies for Israel during the 12-day conflict.

The crackdown triggered a humanitarian crisis along the Afghanistan–Iran border and drew international criticism as a potential violation of international law.