Iran Press/ Iran news: "Iran hosts over five million Afghan refugees, many of which have fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover," the deputy interior minister for security affairs Majid Mir-Ahmadi said on Monday during a meeting with Robert Mardini, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross here in Tehran.
As the Ukraine war has threatened food security in the world, Iran has faced difficulties in providing grain and wheat for its people, Mir-Ahmadi noted, adding: "Afghans living in Iran receive more than $5 billion in subsidies annually, and Afghans have received 4.5 million doses of vaccine since the start of the coronavirus pandemic."
Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who is on a visit to Iran on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, said Iran is doing the right thing in letting Afghans enter Iran, thanking what Iran has done in supporting Afghan refugees.
Voicing the International Committee of the Red Cross' support for the Islamic Republic of Iran, he said the ICRC had doubled its financial support to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
"We thank Iran for providing medical support for Afghan refugees especially vaccinating Afghan refugees," the head of the ICRC stated.
Pointing to the long-standing presence of the ICRC in Iran and cooperation on humanitarian issues, especially during the Iran-Iraq war, Mardini also called for expanding cooperation with Iran, especially on the matter of refugees.
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