Trump Admin Sends 100 Iranians Back to Tehran in Secret Deal: Report

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Trump administration deported a planeload of around 100 Iranians back to Tehran late Monday under a deal struck with the Iranian government, officials have confirmed.

A U.S.-chartered flight left Louisiana and was scheduled to land in Iran on Tuesday via Qatar, two senior Iranian officials involved in the negotiations and a U.S. official familiar with the plan told The New York Times.

All spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“They had been given reassurances that they would be safe and would not face any problems,” one Iranian official said, though he acknowledged many were “disappointed and some even frightened.”

For decades, the U.S. had granted refuge to Iranians fleeing political repression. Iran’s record of persecuting dissidents, religious minorities, journalists, and women’s rights activists has made deportations both rare and legally fraught.

But with a surge of Iranians crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, the move marks a rare moment of cooperation between Washington and Tehran as part of the Trump administration’s push to expel undocumented migrants.

The identities and asylum claims of those deported this week remain unclear, The Times reported, adding that some had volunteered to leave after months in detention while others had outstanding asylum cases.