TEHRAN, Jun. 20 (MNA) – Hosting 3.4 million refugees, Iran has been recognized as the second largest refugee-hosting country in the world after Turkey, head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mashhad said.

Maha Kashour, head of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Mashhad in made the remarks at the World Refugee Day conference in northeast Iranian city on Tuesday. 

"Iran is one of the few countries in the world that has included foreign residents in its national health plan, treating them like Iranian citizens", she said. 

Referring to 800,000 foreign nationals enrolled in Iran's education system, Kashour added that they are now studying alongside Iranian students.

According to Kashour, over the past four decades, Iran has demonstrated a commendable spirit of participation in supporting refugees by accepting a large population of refugees. 

She further reported an increase in migration and refugee crisis in the past decade and stated that by the end of 2022, the number of refugees worldwide exceeded 10 million.

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