American expelling 120 Iranians after the agreement concluded Tehran, says Iran

Iran says 120 of its nationals are expelled from the United States, as part of President Donald Trump’s repression against immigration.

“These people will return to the country in the coming days,” said Hossein Wehabadi, head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry of the Tasnim press agency in Iran.

He said that most of those transported by plane in Iran, via Qatar, had illegally entered the United States – mainly by Mexico.

There have been an increased number of Iranians entering the United States in recent years, many of which fear persecution at home.

The BBC approached the White House and the US State Department for Comments.

We said that some of those who were expelled had valid American residence permits, adding that US officials had asked for their consent on their return.

He called on the US government “to respect the rights of Iranian migrants and their citizenship rights under international law”.

The New York Times, citing two senior Iranian officials familiar with the case, said that the flight of deportees was to arrive in Iran later on Tuesday.

Iran has worked with the United States on an agreement to delete Iranian nationals through his American interest section at the Pakistani Embassy in Tehran.

It is a rare example of cooperation between Iran and the United States, which have no formal diplomatic links.

We said that within the framework of the agreement, some 400 Iranian nationals should be expelled from the United States, this flight considered to be the first phase.

The United States has already concluded bilateral expulsion agreements with a number of countries.

Earlier this year, Panama and Costa Rica agreed to take several hundred African and Asian migrants from the United States.

President Trump has repeatedly committed to reducing the flow of immigration to the United States and plans to expel a record number of people living in the country without legal status – including in countries with controversial human rights files.

He promised to “launch the largest expulsion program for criminals in history” – but it is not known whether the deported Iranian nationals have a criminal record.

Trump’s measures have sparked strong criticism of human rights groups in the United States and abroad, which say that migrants are facing the risk of being sent to countries where they may be injured.

In Iran, the regime’s human rights file was strongly criticized by rights defense groups, UN experts also warning on Monday that there was a “dramatic escalation” in the use of the death penalty this year.

The Iranian government previously defended its use of executions, saying that it is limited to “most serious crimes” – although human rights groups dispute it.