Asked by reporters about the idea of construction of a border wall between Iran and Afghanistan, Vahidi said on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, “No wall is planned to be built.”
The interior minister noted that what Iran is pursuing is a plan for barricading the common border, not constructing a wall.
Several armed clashes have erupted at the border areas between Iran and Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Iran is also grappling with an influx of Afghan emigrants that cross the border in the hope of gaining access to basic rights, such as food safety, education and healthcare.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated the number of Afghan immigrants in Iran at around 3 million. However, this number is likely much higher, given the wave of new arrivals, many of them undocumented.