Australia hopes to repatriate thousands of Iranian refugees to their country

The Australian Foreign Office announced that the country hopes to return thousands of Iranian refugees living in Australia to Iran through an agreement with Tehran.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop hopes to reach an agreement on the repatriation of Iranian refugees whose asylum applications have been rejected by Australia during a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the country on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing the Australian Foreign Ministry. About 9,000 Iranian citizens are currently stranded in Australia and the islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea due to Iran's refusal to directly accept them.

"Our preference is for the voluntary return of those who are not being adequately supported. However, those whose stay is not lawful may be subject to deportation," the Australian Foreign Minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

Negotiations between Iran and Australia over the fate of thousands of Iranian refugees living in the country began during Ms Bishop's visit to Tehran last April. Australian media, citing senior Australian officials, reported that a draft agreement to be signed by Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Australian counterpart calls on Iran not to pressure or punish citizens who are returned to Iran.

It is not yet known how many Iranians will be repatriated if such an agreement is signed and implemented; however, Australia classifies many Iranian asylum seekers as economic migrants and does not view them as refugees.

Despite widespread reports of an imminent agreement between Tehran and Canberra to resolve the situation of Iranian refugees, Iran’s ambassador to Australia, Abdolhossein Vahaji, in an interview with Persian-language radio station Neshat, strongly denied that Iran had signed such an agreement. Regarding the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Australia, he said: “There will certainly be discussions in the meetings of the two governments on various issues, especially refugees, but we assure all refugees that no agreement will be signed in this regard. And until the refugees voluntarily and willingly return to Iran, the Iranian government will not take any action in this regard.”