  We investigate the emergent impurity-induced states arising from point-like
scatterers in the spin-density wave phase of iron-based superconductors within
a microscopic five-band model. Independent of the details of the band-structure
and disorder potential, it is shown how stable magnetic (pi,pi) unidirectional
nematogens are formed locally by the impurities. Interestingly, these
nematogens exhibit a dimer structure in the electronic density, are directed
along the antiferromagnetic a-axis, and have typical lengths of order 10
lattice constants in excellent agreement with recent scanning tunnelling
experiments. These electronic dimers provide a natural explanation of the
dopant-induced transport anisotropy found e.g. in the 122 iron pnictides.
