Asia
Terrible consequences of spreading hatred against immigrants in Iran
In the past few days, efforts have been made by some Iranian citizens to deport Afghan immigrants from that country. Behind these efforts, there are a number of journalists, some of whom write and publish content under pseudonyms on social accounts to put pressure on the Iranian government to deport Afghan immigrants.
In the meantime, there are some Iranian journalists and media people who work with their original names and identities in social networks and mass media, and these journalists play a prominent role in inflaming the situation for immigrants.
Some of these journalists and social media influencers, unfortunately, in order to confuse the Iranian people and incite them against the Afghan immigrants, they publish false information and, as journalists and experts, make unfair accusations against the immigrants, which are mostly not reasonable. This way of propaganda is really not worthy of a human society, let alone that there are linguistic, cultural and religious commonalities between the two countries Afghanistan and Iran. It is worth mentioning that there are common roots and history between Kabul and Iran. And behind that both are the Muslims and speak the same language.
In the last few days, snippets of the speeches of an Iranian journalist named Seyedhadi Kesaizadeh, which he said in a debate, have been circulating on social networks.
The whole debate is over two hours and Kesaizadeh, who represents him as a journalist and pretends to know everything, gives misleading information and makes unjust and sometimes embarrassing accusations against the Afghan immigrants.
False and misleading information is utterly against norm of journalism
A few words from Kesaizadeh may be true, but in general he deliberately wants to distort and divert the Iranian people’s mentality by publishing false and misleading information so that they act against Afghan immigrants.
To see who Kesaizadeh is, I took a glance at his social media accounts, especially X and followed some of his interviews and reports. He is the managing director of a media called “Midan Azadi” and in some media he is referred to as an investigative reporter.
The literature he uses is strange. He calls waste recycling “garbage mafia”. However, what he says in the guise of a journalist, whether in the recent debate or previous interviews or on his social media pages, the vast majority of it has nothing to do with reality and is just pure hatred.
He makes very absurd and incorrect generalizations and makes claims that do not come out of the mouth of a wise and mature person. It has clear racist demarcations and asserts that “all Afghans are either criminals or terrorists unless proven otherwise.”
The community of Afghan immigrants in Iran, which is said to be several million people, can contain thieves and criminals, which is a very normal situation. In its normal state, every society has criminals, thieves, and lawbreakers, otherwise the existence of long and wide organizations called courts, prosecutors, police, etc., becomes meaningless.
Regarding the presence of terrorists, it should be said that the Iranian government is a close friend to Taliban, where Kesaizadeh calls it a terrorist group. But it is irrational and against human principles for a person to come in a journalist’s robe and divide a society of several million people into two groups of “criminals” and “terrorists”.
Kesaizadeh even faked a headline quoting euronews to use against Afghan migrants.
Of course, in other cases, apart from the case of Afghan immigrants, which he wrote less, Kesaizadeh did not forget to spread hatred and make accusations and used aggressive and accusing literature.
Even when he talks about those Iranian politicians who have issues with them, he calls them “political scavengers”. Ironically, after Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination, in a post on social media, he said that an Afghan spy had reported Nasrallah’s location to Israel and demanded the deportation of immigrants from Iran. He published this news by quoting from “euronews” and created an image with the same headline of the news agency with the help of Photoshop. This is despite the fact that a few hours before the impersonation of this Iranian user, euronews published a news story, quoting a French media, and said that an Iranian spy had reported Nasrallah’s location to Israel.
Such falsifications are done with the aim of worsening the living conditions of Afghan immigrants in Iran.
Therefore, in the sense that such people do not have a deep view of the issues, they and their positions should not be given much importance, but unfortunately in the current inflamed atmosphere, such groups of people can make people react against them by launching anti-immigrant campaigns. make it narrower and more difficult for them. They have already created hashtags that demand the deportation of immigrants from Iran.
There is no question that people like Kesaizadeh make false claims and deliberately spread hatred, which unfortunately are not few in number, but the issue is why the Iranian society should go in that direction and what consequences this situation could have for Afghan immigrants?
The claims of those Iranians who spread hatred against Afghan immigrants regarding the large number of immigrants coming from Afghanistan, are true. Most of the families in Afghanistan, one or more of their members have traveled to Iran, and these trips were often for working and providing for the family’s living expenses; Those who have many bitter and sweet memories of living and working in Iran and of course had an acceptable and good image of Iranian people.
The entry of illegal Afghans into Iran is an undeniable fact, but that doesn’t mean Iran should violate immigrant rights.
These things are quite obvious. Illegal entry from the borders is also an undeniable fact. However, Iran, as a member of the international community, must comply with requirements and not violate the rights of immigrants.
Unfortunately, returning immigrants and asylum seekers to a country where their lives are in danger is an act that is committed every day by the Iranian government.
On the other hand, it seems that the contribution of the Iranian government in this hatred is very high. The government of Iran, which suffers from many problems in its domestic and foreign policy, when it feels unable to manage the situation, to prevent the formation of protests by its citizens, it brings up the issue of border control and Afghan immigrants.
Iran had repeatedly hinted on border and Afghan immigrants that it has now become a hot issue and every time this issue is raised, the public mind in Iran is diverted. Deviation of the public mind from internal problems or mistakes in Iran’s foreign policy is one of the main reasons for the issue of Afghan immigrants by the Iranian government. This issue gives an excuse to Iranian anti-immigrants to make the atmosphere more tense by resorting to propaganda and spreading false information.
In fact, this is a cycle where the government turns on the anti-immigrant key, and then the anti-immigrants, especially the anti-immigrant media and journalists, cling to it with all their hands and feet, and finally this time they pressure the government to implement a stricter policy against immigrants. These bilateral measures have worsened the situation of immigrants.
The consequences of this anti-immigrant process for the Afghan immigrant community are very terrible.
Majority of Afghans went to Iran and other countries after the fall of republic government in Afghanistan
In addition to the pressure exerted by Iranian anti-immigrants on the Iranian government, it seems that the collusion of the authorities of Iran with the Taliban is also involved in the group deportation of immigrants.
The government of Iran has always proven that if a social demand – no matter how humane and serious – is not in the direction of this government, it will not act on those demands. In the issue of Afghan immigrants, the government of Iran accepts the wishes of a very few anti-immigrants and intensifies the pressure on the immigrants, there are reasons other than the wishes of the citizens of Iran.
In the recent wave of Afghan immigrants entering Iran, there are those who were members of the Afghan security forces or were journalists or civil activists in pre-Taliban Afghanistan, who are now under persecution of the Taliban.
Kesaizadeh had also mentioned about these Afghans during his debates and interviews on tv. These are the people who have sought refuge in Iran out of fear for their lives, just as they have sought refuge in Pakistan and the northern neighbors of Afghanistan, and even Europe, Australia, and USA. Deporting these Afghan immigrants – whether they have entered Iran legally or illegally – directly put them in danger.
Beijing said it had conducted law enforcement patrols in waters east of Taiwan in response to a decision by Japan and the Philippines to launch talks on maritime boundary delimitation.
According to a statement from the China Coast Guard, a flotilla led by the vessel Daishan carried out law enforcement patrols “in accordance with the law” on Monday.
China Coast Guard spokesperson Jiang Lue said the operation was “a necessary action” in response to Japan and the Philippines “unilaterally announcing the start of negotiations on maritime delimitation in waters east of China’s Taiwan Island.”
“Such an announcement seriously infringes upon China’s territorial sovereignty and its maritime rights and interests,” Jiang said.
“We urge Japan and the Philippines to immediately cease all illegal actions that violate China’s sovereignty and rights,” he added.
Jiang also said the coast guard would continue strengthening its control and management of the relevant waters and that China would take concrete measures to “resolutely safeguard territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
The United States and most of its allies, including Japan and the Philippines, do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state and acknowledge it as part of China. The United Nations has also adopted resolutions reflecting this position. However, Washington continues to provide arms to Taiwan as part of its broader efforts to counter China and encourages its allies to do the same.
Following a summit in Tokyo between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the two countries said in a joint statement issued on Thursday that they had agreed to begin “formal negotiations” to delimit their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and continental shelves.
Beijing condemned the planned talks as “completely illegal and invalid” and swiftly lodged formal diplomatic protests with both Tokyo and Manila.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday: “The so-called delimitation negotiations are entirely illegal, invalid and void. They will have no impact whatsoever on China’s claims or on China’s exercise of its legitimate rights in the area east of Taiwan Island.”
The latest escalation comes at a time when relations between Beijing and both Tokyo and Manila are already strained. Japan and the Philippines are treaty allies of the United States, while China remains engaged in separate territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with the Philippines in the South China Sea.
As US attention and resources have increasingly shifted toward the war involving Iran, and as the White House has made the Western Hemisphere a strategic priority, Japan and the Philippines have stepped up diplomatic engagement in the region commonly referred to as the Indo-Pacific.
That effort has included building closer security and defence ties with other countries, prompting Beijing to accuse them of encouraging bloc confrontation in the region.
Japan and the Philippines do not share a maritime boundary. However, their seabed claims could overlap because both countries seek to extend their legal continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles, equivalent to 370 kilometres or 230 miles.
The overlapping area lies east of Taiwan, southwest of Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and north of the Philippines’ Batanes Islands.
Yang Xiao, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China’s highest-ranking state-affiliated think tank, said Taiwan’s EEZ and continental shelf are part of the area under discussion.
“These are China’s rights and are not something that the two sides can negotiate among themselves,” Yang said.
In an interview published on Sunday by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, before the China Coast Guard announced the patrols, Yang said Beijing would take “historic and unprecedented” countermeasures against Tokyo and Manila.
“Since they are negotiating in a three-party overlapping zone, we can also take further steps to advance our jurisdiction in the waters east of Taiwan,” Yang said.
“If the other side insists on reckless and destructive actions, we will inevitably introduce new countermeasures.”
Yang described the waters east of Taiwan as a vital maritime area for the island’s economic activities.
“If these waters are divided between Japan and the Philippines, that would clearly harm the interests of the people living on Taiwan Island,” he added.
As artificial intelligence reshapes industrial structures in Japan and South Korea, stock market rankings are being redrawn. SoftBank Group has overtaken Toyota Motor to become Japan’s most valuable listed company.
SoftBank shares have surged as the global artificial intelligence rally gathers momentum, lifting the technology conglomerate’s market capitalisation above that of Toyota for the first time in more than two decades.
The shift reflects a broader reordering of Japan’s equity market. Automakers, alongside banks, steelmakers, energy companies and other traditional heavy industries, are losing ground to chipmakers and companies linked to artificial intelligence.
SoftBank shares jumped 14% on Monday, reaching a new record high. The company’s market value climbed to 48 trillion yen, or $301 billion, making it the most valuable company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Toyota had long held the top position, with a market capitalisation of approximately 45 trillion yen. The last time SoftBank surpassed Toyota was in March 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble.
SoftBank’s rapid rise has been driven by strong earnings performance and its substantial investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
The Japanese company reported net profit of 1.82 trillion yen, or $11.4 billion, for the first three months of 2026, 3.5 times higher than in the same period a year earlier. The group is also increasing its investment in OpenAI, completing a $10 billion investment in April and committing to invest an additional $20 billion later this year. Total investment is expected to reach roughly $65 billion.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI plans to file for an initial public offering and aims to list in the United States as early as September. Some media reports suggest the company could seek to raise $60 billion through the offering, potentially valuing it at more than $1 trillion. Such a transaction could become the largest initial public offering in history.
Investors expect the IPO to significantly boost SoftBank’s investment gains. Those expectations have helped drive the technology group’s share price higher. SoftBank shares have risen about 127% since early April.
The company is also planning to invest up to 14 trillion yen in the construction of data centres in France.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Beijing, where the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and oversaw the signing of multiple cooperation agreements. Xi also awarded Vucic the Friendship Medal of the People’s Republic of China.
The meeting between Xi Jinping and Aleksandar Vucic began with an official welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The two leaders then proceeded to formal talks. Xi said China and Serbia had achieved “positive results” since jointly launching the construction of a “China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era” in 2024.
Xi said the partnership had not only benefited the two peoples but had also set an example for international relations.
The Chinese president described relations between China and Serbia as an “iron friendship” based on deep historical ties and mutual trust.
Calling on both sides to strengthen exchanges, deepen practical cooperation and continue supporting each other on issues concerning their core interests, Xi also said the two countries should align their development strategies and advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. In this context, he pointed to transport, energy and infrastructure projects.
Xi also called for expanding cooperation in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, green energy and advanced manufacturing.
Aleksandar Vucic congratulated China on the start of implementation of its 15th Five-Year Plan. Vucic also expressed confidence in China’s future development under Xi Jinping’s leadership.
The Serbian president said Belgrade attached great importance to relations with China and firmly supported Beijing on issues concerning China’s core interests.
Vucic thanked Chinese companies for their contributions to Serbia’s economic development and infrastructure construction.
Saying the two countries had made notable progress since establishing their comprehensive strategic partnership, Vucic added that cooperation had expanded across numerous sectors.
The Serbian president also praised China’s role in international affairs, saying Beijing approached smaller countries on the basis of equality and respect and defended international law.
Following the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation agreements covering politics, trade, science and technology, education, legal affairs and culture.
The two sides also issued joint statements on steadily advancing the construction of a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era and jointly supporting the implementation of four global initiatives.
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