US deports 100 Iranians after deal with Tehran, says report

US deports 100 Iranians after deal with Tehran, says report

About 100 Iranians were deported from the US after what looks like some kind of deal with Tehran. According to the New York Times, there was a US chartered flight out of Louisiana that went through Qatar on its way to Iran. Both American and Iranian officials have been pretty quiet about the details, which isn’t surprising given how unusual this kind of cooperation is.

Iranian state media framed it as a coordinated effort, saying some of the people had been stuck in US detention for months and agreed to go back, while others were sent home whether they wanted to or not. Tehran has also been promising they won’t punish those who return, though human rights groups are skeptical. Given Iran’s record, it’s hard to take those assurances at face value.

What makes this stand out is that it might just be the first batch. Iranian officials are talking about as many as 400 deportations in total. Many of the people apparently crossed into the US illegally often through Mexico and some had asylum cases pending. For people who watch immigration policy closely, this is a sharp turn, since the US has usually given Iranians at least some space if they claimed to be fleeing persecution.

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That’s part of why the move is stirring controversy. There’s this principle in international law called non-refoulement, which basically says you shouldn’t send people back to a country where they could face harm. Critics are warning that by fast-tracking deportations to Iran, Washington could be crossing that line.

Politically, the timing is striking too. US Iran relations are already tense as sanctions are back in full swing, and there was that recent US strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Yet here’s this strange moment of cooperation on deportations. Some see it as a pragmatic, narrow deal between two governments that otherwise can’t agree on much of anything.

I think what most people will be watching now is how these deportees are actually treated once they’re back in Iran. If they quietly go back to their families and rebuild their lives, maybe Tehran will argue it kept its word. But if stories start emerging of detentions or worse, then this whole arrangement is going to look a lot darker, both morally and legally.

So far, US agencies like DHS and the State Department aren’t saying much. That silence probably means there’s more to the deal than we and that neither side wants to brag about cooperating too loudly.