“Iran has strong ties with Afghanistan & leads the way to help Afghan leaders for inclusive Gvt. What happened to Afghan nationals in Herat is tragic & unrelated to Iran, but US regime's allegation against Iran is a 'bitter joke'. The regime is a war criminal in Afghanistan & state sponsor of terrorism across the world,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a tweet late on Tuesday.
The tweet came after US Acting Assistant Secretary for South Asia Alice Wells earlier in the day described as “horrifying” Iran’s “cruel treatment and abuse of Afghan migrants alleged in these reports.”
In a statement on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi expressed sympathy with the families of the victims, and said, “This incident has occurred on Afghan soil, and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Border Police has denied that any happening in relation to this has taken place on the soil of our country.”
Afghan news media had reported that about 50 Afghan migrants crossing into Iran illegally had been beaten and thrown into a river. Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry on Saturday said an inquiry had been launched.
Iran spends eight billion dollars on Afghan migrants every year in various sectors.
According to the latest official figures, 951,142 Afghan refugees reside in Iran. In addition to the refugees, there are around 2.5 million Afghan nationals living in Iran, inclusive of passport holders and undocumented Afghans.
The UN refugee agency has, on numerous occasions, praised Iran for hosting Afghan refugees for more than four decades.