Abbas Araghchi, deputy foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that if the economic pressures due to U.S sanctions continue, Iran will ask Afghan immigrants to leave the country.

On Wednesday, in an interview with the channel 2 of the state TV,  Araghchi said: “When the effects of U.S sanctions start to show and oil sales drop to zero, Iran will be forced to chose a certain economic policy and might ask Afghan immigrants to leave Iran.”

He added that he does not intend to cause any concern among Afghan immigrants but said that if the United States continued its policy of sanctions, Iran will ask Afghan immigrants to leave and “the United States and other countries will be responsible for it.”

The issue of Afghan immigrants has been a recurring topic of discussion between Iran and Afghanistan. Afghanistan is currently not capable of receiving this large number of immigrants returning to the country.

In response to Araghchi’s threat, in an exclusive interview with Iran International, Afghanistan’s deputy minister of Immigration said: Araghchi’s comments about forcing Afghan immigrants to leave is something new and Afghanistan’s government will negotiate with Iran about the issue.

Dr. Alameh stated that immigration issues are separated from political affairs, and luckily, Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan have agreed to keep immigration separate from politics.

She said that Afghanistan has repeatedly discussed the issue of immigration with Pakistan and Iran so that “Afghan immigrants are not used political tools or weapon.”

According to Dr. Alameh, last year over 800 thousand Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Iran either by force or voluntarily.