More than 3.27 million pilgrim exits recorded at Iran's Arbaeen border crossings, with Mehran carrying 45%

Colonel Vahidreza Bay, head of the data analysis laboratory at Iran's traffic police, said on Tuesday 4 August 2026 that from the start of the Arbaeen operation on 16 July until the end of 3 August, recorded pilgrim crossings at Iran's land borders towards the shrine cities passed 3.27 million, while more than 2.29 million people had returned. On those figures, about one million pilgrims are still in Iraq.

He said 98,000 pilgrims left the country and 319,000 entered on 3 August. The heaviest outbound day was 28 July with about 397,000 people, and the heaviest inbound day was 31 July with about 362,000. The Mehran crossing accounted for around 45% of all outbound movements, keeping it the main gateway for Arbaeen pilgrims.

On the vehicle side, more than one million vehicles have entered the Arbaeen border zone since the operation began, of which 925,000 were cars and pickups and 13,600 were buses. Total recorded vehicle movements across the five border provinces reached about 64 million, including 56 million by cars and pickups and 759,000 by buses. Vehicle build up in the border provinces is reported to be easing, though Ilam province still holds the largest concentration at 50,274 vehicles. At the Shahid Raisi parking area on the Mehran border, 10,735 buses have entered and 10,164 have left since the operation started.