Alireza Bikdeli, acting head of the Islamic Republic of Iran\u2019s embassy in Afghanistan, announced that Tehran plans to implement a pilot scheme aimed at better managing the pilgrimage process for foreign visitors, especially Afghans. According to Bikdeli, the initiative would limit the stay of pilgrims in the city of Mashhad to just 14 days, and they will not be allowed to leave Razavi Khorasan province.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a regional diplomacy meeting in Mashhad, Bikdeli emphasized that \u201cpilgrimage to Imam Reza is the right of every individual.\u201d However, citing what he described as \u201cmisuse of pilgrimage visas by some individuals,\u201d he stated that pilgrimage routes have been blocked for certain travelers.<\/p>\n
He added that Iran\u2019s previous foreign ministry policies were aimed at easing visa issuance in order to prevent illegal immigration. Nevertheless, he pointed to a significant issue: a lack of centralized management and oversight in the visa issuance process.<\/p>\n
The remarks come as thousands of Afghan nationals travel annually to Iran\u2014particularly to Imam Reza\u2019s shrine in Mashhad\u2014for religious pilgrimage. The newly announced restrictions and control measures are likely to increase pressure on Afghan migrants.<\/p>\n
Bikdeli also highlighted the potential of medical tourism in Iran\u2019s border provinces and suggested that migrants could access healthcare services through this channel. He stressed the need for greater support for Khorasan\u2019s handicraft industries and called for improvements in the quality of local shops. He further expressed Iran\u2019s readiness to cooperate with various institutions to leverage its religious and tourism capacities more effectively.<\/p>\n
This Iranian decision could present new obstacles for Afghan pilgrims. The strong presence of Afghans at Iran\u2019s religious sites\u2014especially in Mashhad\u2014has long been a significant cultural link between the two countries, which now faces new challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran has introduced new restrictions limiting Afghan pilgrims to 14 days in Mashhad, aiming to better manage religious visits and control illegal immigration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}