Iran announced on Tuesday that 120 of its nationals are being deported from the United States this week under President Donald Trump’s toughened immigration policies.
Hossein Noushabadi, an official with Iran’s foreign ministry consular affairs, told the Tasnim news agency that the group is part of a larger crackdown. “The US immigration service has decided to deport around 400 Iranians currently in the United States, most of them after entering illegally,” he said.
According to The New York Times, about 100 of those deported had sought refuge in the US, but are now being sent back to Iran under a rare agreement reached between Washington and Tehran. The deal, described as the outcome of months of quiet negotiations, highlights an unusual instance of cooperation between the two longtime adversaries.
US authorities reportedly chartered an aircraft that departed from Louisiana on Monday evening, making a stopover in Qatar before heading to Tehran. The deportations are seen as the Trump administration’s most forceful effort yet to expel migrants to countries with documented human rights concerns. The US State Department declined to immediately comment when contacted by AFP.
Earlier this year, American authorities deported several other Iranian nationals — many of them Christians — to Central American countries such as Costa Rica and Panama, rather than repatriating them to Iran. The latest expulsions, however, mark a significant shift as deportations directly to Tehran resume, raising concerns among rights groups about the fate of those returning under Iran’s strict political and social climate.
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