Iran has announced that 120 of its citizens are being deported from the United States as part of President Donald Trump’s intensified efforts to control immigration. An official from Iran’s foreign ministry, Hossein Noushabadi, stated that these individuals are expected to return to Iran within the next one to two days. He mentioned that the majority of those being repatriated had entered the US illegally, primarily through Mexico, and that the deportees would be arriving via Qatar.
Noushabadi indicated that some of the individuals facing deportation hold valid US residency permits, and that US officials had obtained their consent for the return journey. He urged the US government to uphold the rights of Iranian migrants and their citizenship rights in accordance with international law.
Citing senior Iranian officials familiar with the matter, The New York Times reported that the flight carrying the deportees was scheduled to land in Iran on Tuesday. This situation marks a rare instance of cooperation between Iran and the United States, nations that do not maintain formal diplomatic relations.
According to Noushabadi, this flight is the first phase of a broader agreement that anticipates the deportation of approximately 400 Iranian nationals from the US. The United States has previously established deportation agreements with several other countries.
President Trump has consistently advocated for stricter immigration policies, aiming to reduce the number of immigrants entering the US and deporting a significant number of undocumented individuals, even to countries with questionable human rights records. His administration has vowed to implement the most extensive deportation program for individuals with criminal records in history, though it remains unclear if the Iranian nationals in question have criminal convictions.
Human rights organizations both within the US and internationally have voiced strong criticism of these policies, expressing concerns that migrants might be sent to locations where they could face harm. In Iran, the government’s human rights record has also drawn significant criticism, with UN experts recently highlighting a “dramatic escalation” in the application of the death penalty this year.