The Islamic Republic refused last week to attend an international meeting on people smuggling to Australia, the only invited country that refused to come.
But Australia says large numbers of Iranians who have recently landed there and learned they will never be allowed into Australia are now giving up and agreeing to go home.
Iran does not accept Iranians that Australia deports, but it does accept Iranians who voluntarily come home.
Australia has been moving the boat people to Manus, a tropical island that is part of Papua New Guinea and telling them they may have to stay there forever.
Last week, Australian Immigration Minister Tony Burke said the government’s new tough policy is working. He said increasing numbers of people sent to Manus are now asking to return home. “They are overwhelmingly but not exclusively Iranian,” Burke said.
Of the 18,000 boat people that have arrived so far this year in Australia, one-third are Iranian, the largest nationality bloc by far.
Meanwhile, Indonesia sponsored an international gathering to discuss what to do about the flood of people coming to Indonesia and paying people smugglers to take them to Australia. The talks were held the same day that Indonesia ceased allowing Iranians to enter Indonesia without a visa.
Indonesia invited 14 countries to come to the talks to work out joint policies that could combat the people smugglers. Thirteen of the 14 attended. Only Iran declined to come.
