Hundreds of Iranians have held American immigration charges to be expelled to Iran: Tehran official

The United States will expel hundreds of Iranians in Iran in the coming weeks, the first 120 deportees being prepared for a flight the next day or two, Iran said on Tuesday.

The expulsion of the Iranians, who are not yet publicly recognized by the American government, comes when tensions remain high between the two countries following the American attacks of Iranian nuclear sites in June.

Meanwhile, the United Nations reprinted sanctions against Iran last week on its nuclear program, exercising new pressures on the economy in difficulty of the Islamic Republic.

Deportations also represent a collision of an absolute priority by US President Donald Trump – targeting illegal immigration – against a practice of several decades from the United States to welcome Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Up to 400 Iranians would return to Iran as part of the agreement with the United States, Iranian state television said, citing Hossein Wehabadi, director general of parliamentary affairs of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said that the majority of these people had illegally brought to the United States from Mexico, while some have been faced with other immigration problems.

We said that the foreground plan of the Iranians would arrive in a day or two, after stopping in Qatar on the way. Qatar authorities have not confirmed this.

The US State Department referred questions to the Ministry of Homeland Security, which did not immediately answer.

Do not know what has led to deportations

Before and after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, a large number of Iranians fled to the United States during the decades that followed, the United States had been sensitive to allowing those who fled Iran on religious, sexual or political persecution to seek residence.

During the 2024 fiscal year, for example, the United States only expelled 20 Iranians, according to American immigration statistics and the application of customs.

Iran has criticized Washington for welcoming dissidents and others in the past. American federal prosecutors have accused Iran of hiring hired killers to also target dissidents in America.

We don’t know exactly what has changed now in American politics. However, since his return to the White House, Trump has repressed those who live illegally in the United States.

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Wehabadi said that the American authorities had unilaterally made the decision without consulting with Iran.

But the New York Times said on Tuesday, quoting anonymous Iranian officials, that the deportations were “the culmination of months of discussions between the two countries”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian both attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week as a last effort to stop reimped sanctions. However, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, boosted in their efforts by describing diplomacy with the United States as a “pure dead end”.

Addressing state television in images broadcast on Tuesday, Araghchi acknowledged that direct communication from Iran went to the United States government during the United Nations visit – which he had care not to highlight for five cycles of nuclear negotiations with the Americans earlier this year.

“With the Americans, both directly and indirectly, messages have been exchanged, and finally, we are relieved that we have done everything that was necessary,” said Araghchi. “It was clear and obvious to us after the interpretation that the supreme chief made negotiations with the Americans are an obvious dead end.”