TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The United States will deport hundreds of Iranians back to Iran in the coming weeks, with the first 120 deportees being prepared for a flight in the next day or two, Iran said Tuesday.
The deportation of Iranians, not yet publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government, comes as tensions remain high between the two countries following the American bombings of Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Meanwhile, the United Nations reimposed sanctions on Iran this past week over its nuclear program, putting new pressure on the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy.
The deportations also represent a collision of a top priority of President Donald Trump — targeting illegal immigration — against a decadeslong practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
As many as 400 Iranians would be returning to Iran as part of the deal with the U.S., Iranian state television said, citing Hossein Noushabadi, director-general for parliamentary affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry. He said the majority of those people had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.
Noushabadi said the first planeload of Iranians would arrive in a day or two, after stopping over in Qatar on the way. Authorities in Qatar have not confirmed that.
The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond. The New York Times first reported the deportations.
In the lead up to and after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, a large number of Iranians fled to the U.S. In the decades since, the U.S. had been sensitive in allowing those fleeing from Iran over religious, sexual or political persecution to seek residency.
In the 2024 fiscal year, for instance, the U.S. deported only 20 Iranians, according to statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Iran has criticized Washington for hosting dissidents and others in the past. U.S. federal prosecutors have accused Iran of hiring hitmen to target dissidents as well in America.
NIAC Condemns Deportation of Iranian Nationals Amid Ongoing Civil Rights Abuses
WASHINGTON D.C. – Jamal Abdi, President of the National Iranian American Council, issued the following statement on reports that the U.S. has chartered a plane to deport approximately 100 Iranian nationals to Iran, and will deport hundreds more to Iran in the months to come. In the days that followed the June war against Iran, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) touted the arrest of 130 nationals from Iran. These arrests have continued across recent months. Iranian nationals in detention, like many others, have reported unsanitary and overcrowded conditions inside detention facilities as they seek freedom and face the risk of deportation:
“This is a case where injustice has been stacked on injustice. Iranian nationals should not have been ripped from their families by ICE after the war and treated as a terror threat. They should not have languished in horrible, unsanitary prisons with minimal, poor food and cut off from their loved ones and support networks. They should have had a choice to stay in America, rather than choose between deportation to “third country” places like Romania and South Sudan or their authoritarian government, which also faces crushing sanctions and the threat of more war. Iran should not be a place where nationals fear to return home and face threats of wrongful imprisonment, torture and execution. And the United States should be a place that welcomes and supports immigrants.
“The fact that a deportation flight is being chartered to Iran underscores the grave civil rights violations being inflicted on Iranian nationals here in the United States. Our understanding is all these individuals agreed to be deported to Iran when facing a terrible choice: endure deplorable treatment in some of the worst prison conditions in the United States with little hope for release, be deported to a third country where they don’t speak the language, or return to Iran. Some of the approximately hundred individuals on the flight undoubtedly left Iran after participating in protest movements against their authoritarian government and now face the risk of reprisal. Under U.S. law, they should have been afforded a fair opportunity for asylum, but were denied under an administration that is acting increasingly lawless toward non-citizens.” Full statement here …
It’s unclear exactly what has changed now in American policy. However, since returning to the White House, Trump has cracked down on those living in the U.S. illegally.
Noushabadi said that American authorities unilaterally made the decision without consultations with Iran.
But The New York Times said Tuesday, citing anonymous Iranian officials, that the deportations were “the culmination of months of discussions between the two countries.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as well as President Masoud Pezeshkian, both attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week as a last-ditch effort to stop the reimposed sanctions. However, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boxed in their efforts by describing diplomacy with the U.S. as a “sheer dead end.”
Speaking to state TV in footage aired Tuesday, Araghchi acknowledged that direct communication from Iran went to the U.S. government during the U.N. visit — something he had been careful not to highlight during five rounds of nuclear negotiations with the Americans earlier this year.
“With Americans, both directly and indirectly, messages were exchanged, and eventually, we are relieved that we did whatever it was necessary,” Araghchi said. “It was clear and evident to us after the interpretation the Supreme Leader made that negotiations with Americans is an obvious dead-end.”
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