Iran has confirmed that 120 of its citizens are being deported from the United States this week under President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
The deportees, many of whom reportedly entered the U.S. illegally through Mexico, are expected to arrive in Tehran within the next 48 hours via Qatar, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry official Hossein Noushabadi, who spoke to the Tasnim News Agency.
“Some of these individuals held valid U.S. residency permits,” Noushabadi alleged, stressing that Washington must “respect the rights of Iranian migrants under international law.” He added that U.S. officials had requested consent from some deportees before their return.
A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, told the BBC that the Trump administration remained committed to “the largest mass deportation of illegal aliens in U.S. history, using every tool available.”
First phase of wider deportations
According to senior Iranian officials cited by The New York Times, the Tuesday flight marks the first phase of a larger agreement that could see as many as 400 Iranians deported from the U.S.
The deportations are being coordinated through Iran’s U.S. Interests Section at the Pakistani embassy in Tehran — a rare channel of cooperation between the two adversarial nations, which do not maintain formal diplomatic ties.
The U.S. has also signed bilateral deportation deals with several other countries this year, including Panama and Costa Rica, to take in migrants from Africa and Asia.
Human rights concerns
The move has sparked criticism from human rights advocates who warn that deportees may face persecution and abuse upon return to Iran, a country long accused of systemic rights violations.
Just this week, UN experts raised alarms over a “dramatic escalation” in executions in Iran, noting a surge in death penalty cases in 2025. Iranian authorities maintain that capital punishment is reserved for the “most severe crimes,” though rights groups say it is applied far more broadly.
President Trump has repeatedly vowed to slash immigration and deport record numbers of people without legal status. While the White House insists the effort targets criminals, it remains unclear whether any of the Iranian deportees have criminal records.
For many Iranians, especially those fleeing political repression or seeking better opportunities, the deportations underscore the growing risks of migration under Washington’s hardline stance.
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