 "Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela. AP file")
In a rare development, the United States is deporting around 100 Iranians to Iran after a deal between the two governments in Tehran and Washington amid hostile tensions, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing senior Iranian officials involved in the negotiations and a US official familiar with the plans.
A US-chartered plane left Louisiana on Monday and was due to arrive in Iran via Qatar on Tuesday.
The rare cooperation between the two adversaries followed months of talks, coming amid heightened tensions after an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities later joined by the US itself, according to the report.
Iranian foreign ministry coordinating return
However in the report, the identities of the Iranians being deported still remain unclear. Some had been held in detention centres for months and agreed to leave, while others did not go voluntarily, according to the report.
Iranian officials said to NYT that the foreign ministry was coordinating their return and had assured them they would face no problems on arrival.
Previous Iranian deportations
In February, the US deported 119 people from several countries, including Iran, to Panama under a similar arrangement. Earlier this year, it also deported groups of Iranians — some of them Christian converts at risk of persecution — to Costa Rica and Panama, drawing criticism and lawsuits from migrant rights advocates.
Concerns over human rights as US granted refuge to many Iranians
For decades, the US had granted refuge to Iranians fleeing repression. Iran has long been accused of persecuting women’s rights activists, political dissidents, journalists, lawyers, religious minorities and LGBTQ people. This latest deportation marks one of the starkest efforts yet by the Trump administration to return migrants despite human rights concerns.
The identities of the Iranians and their reasons for seeking entry into the United States were not immediately known. In recent years, more Iranians have been arriving at the southern US border and crossing illegally, with many saying they fear persecution in Iran over their political or religious beliefs.
Trump’s deportation pledge
President Donald Trump has vowed to carry out record deportations of people living in the US without legal status, blaming his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for what he calls high levels of illegal border crossings.
His administration has, however, struggled to increase deportation numbers, even as it has opened new routes to send migrants to third countries.