A second flight of Iranian deportees, carrying 55, has left the US, Iran says

U.S. Conducts Second Deportation Flight of Iranians Amid Geopolitical Tensions

A second flight carrying Iranian nationals deported from the United States has departed American soil, according to Iranian officials, who indicated that Washington plans to return hundreds more prisoners to the Islamic Republic in the coming months.

The Mizan news agency, the official news outlet of Iran’s judiciary, reported Monday that 55 Iranians were on board the latest deportation flight. Mojtaba Shasti Karimi, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official, attributed the deportations to “anti-immigration and discriminative policy against foreign nationals, particularly Iranians, by the United States.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei confirmed the planned return of 55 Iranians on Sunday, noting that according to U.S. authorities, the individuals were being repatriated due to “legal reasons and breach of immigration regulations.”

As of early Monday, the U.S. government had not publicly acknowledged the deportation flight, and it remained unclear whether the plane had arrived in Tehran. Both the Department of Homeland Security and State Department did not immediately respond to media inquiries regarding the deportations.

These deportations represent a significant shift in U.S. policy toward Iranian nationals. For decades following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the United States has generally welcomed Iranian dissidents, exiles, and others fleeing the regime. The current deportations highlight the collision between the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies and this long-standing practice of providing refuge to Iranians.

The policy change comes at a particularly tense moment in U.S.-Iran relations, following U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during Tehran’s 12-day conflict with Israel in June. Human rights activists have expressed grave concerns about the fate of deportees returning to Iran, where the theocratic government has intensified its crackdown on intellectuals and has been executing prisoners at rates not seen in decades.

In September, Iranian officials acknowledged that as many as 400 Iranian nationals could be returned under the Trump administration’s deportation policy. That same month, the first such deportation flight arrived in Tehran, marking the beginning of what appears to be a systematic effort to return Iranian nationals who have violated U.S. immigration laws.

The Iranian diaspora in the United States is substantial, with large numbers of Iranians having fled to America before and after the 1979 revolution. Historically, the U.S. has been accommodating toward those fleeing Iran due to religious, sexual, or political persecution, recognizing the repressive nature of the Iranian regime.

Iranian authorities maintain that only those facing criminal charges would face prosecution upon return, while others can travel freely within Iran. However, this claim is contradicted by Tehran’s documented practice of detaining Westerners and others with foreign connections to use as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges.

The Iranian government has frequently criticized Washington for hosting dissidents and political opponents. Meanwhile, U.S. federal prosecutors have accused Iran of hiring hitmen to target dissidents living in America, further illustrating the complex and often hostile relationship between the two countries.

This latest deportation flight underscores the significant shift in U.S. immigration policy toward Iranian nationals and raises important questions about the fate of those being returned to a country where human rights violations are widespread and well-documented.