Germany would be top destination for Iranians fleeing war – report

The continued US-Israeli attack on the country with a population of 90 million could lead to a mass exodus, a research study has warned

Most Iranians fleeing the war, should the US and Israel choose to continue their aggression, would likely head for Germany, a Berlin-based research institute has predicted.

The continued unrest in the country with a population of over 90 million has sparked concerns of mass migration flows to the EU.

On Friday, the newspaper Munchner Merkur cited a recent study by the Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF) concluding that 28% of potential Iranian war refugees would view Germany as their top destination. Additionally, 14% of Lebanese migrants would also likely seek protection in the EU nation. The report draws on the findings of a 2024 Gallup representative survey.

The publication quoted RF Berlin director and report co-author Christian Dustmann as pointing out that Germany already has numerous Iranian and Lebanese diasporas, which could make the country more attractive to potential newcomers.

Moreover, with countries like Canada and the US being geographically harder to reach, it is likely that “Europe – and Germany in particular – will become the primary destination for potential refugee movements,” the researcher said, as quoted by Merkur.

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Also on Friday, Politico reported that the European Union is bracing itself for a wave of refugees fleeing the war in Iran.

Nicholas Ioannides, the deputy migration minister of Cyprus, told the outlet that the bloc “cannot overlook the possibility of a new refugee crisis.”

A report penned by the bloc’s Agency for Asylum before the start of the war warned that “even partial destabilization [in Iran] could generate refugee movements of an unprecedented magnitude,” Politico said.

In 2015, at the height of the Syrian civil war, the bloc took in more than a million refugees. The migrant influx has caused internal frictions in many member states, including Germany, with critics of the open-door policy citing a rise in crime, terrorist threats, and migrants’ failure to integrate.

Politico quoted Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell as saying that “we are still seeing the consequences of what happened 10 years ago,” with a repeat “not an option” for the EU.