MESA, Ariz. — A chartered aircraft carrying approximately 55 Iranian citizens departed from Arizona on Sunday bound for Tehran, marking only the second time in American history that the United States has organized a mass deportation flight to Iran, officials confirmed, intensifying concerns among advocates that deportees could face interrogation or worse upon arrival in the Islamic Republic.
The plane lifted off from Mesa airport carrying Iranians alongside deportees from Arab nations and Russia, according to two Iranian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authorization to discuss the matter publicly. The aircraft will make intermediate stops in Egypt and Kuwait before Iranian passengers complete the final leg to Tehran, the officials told the New York Times.
Mojtaba Shasti Karimi, director of consular services for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed Tehran expected to receive about 55 deportees in the coming days. Iran’s official judiciary news agency Mizan quoted Karimi as saying the individuals had expressed willingness to return home due to “continuation of anti-immigration and discriminative policy against foreign nationals particularly Iranians by the United States.”
Karimi claimed Tehran had received reports of “inhumane” treatment of Iranians held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, characterizing their departure as voluntary responses to “racist and anti-immigration policies” of the U.S. government.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details, confirmed the flight departed Sunday but described it as a routine deportation operation that included nationals from multiple countries beyond Iran. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the flight.
The deportation flight represents the second such operation since September, when the first planeload of Iranian deportees touched down in Tehran after months of negotiations between Washington and Tehran brokered through intermediaries. That inaugural flight carried 45 people, at least eight of whom reportedly resisted deportation and pleaded not to be sent to Iran because they feared for their safety, according to the Associated Press.
Two deportees from the September flight later recounted disturbing experiences, alleging they had been beaten by immigration officials in the United States and Qatar, then physically forced onto the aircraft. The United States and Qatar both denied allegations of violence against deportees or coercing them onto Iran-bound flights.
Upon landing in Tehran in October, deportees described being terrified as they underwent questioning at the airport and were required to complete forms explaining why they had fled Iran and sought asylum in America. Several deportees said they subsequently received summonses for interrogation by the intelligence wing of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, raising alarm among human rights advocates about the fate awaiting those returned to Iranian custody.
One Iranian official familiar with Sunday’s passenger manifest said those aboard had entered the United States through the southern border, spent months in detention facilities, and ultimately had their asylum requests denied. The identities of individual deportees and their specific circumstances, including whether they voluntarily accepted deportation or were compelled onto the plane, remained unclear as of Sunday evening.
Representative Yassamin Ansari, an Iranian-American Democrat from Arizona, issued warnings on social media as reports of the pending flight circulated over the weekend. Ansari cautioned that the aircraft could include “vulnerable individuals who could face persecution” if returned to Iran, according to the New York Times.
The deportations unfold against a backdrop of elevated tensions between Washington and Tehran following American airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel in June. Activists abroad have voiced deep concern about returning deportees to a country where the theocratic government has intensified crackdowns on intellectuals and ramped up executions to rates unseen in decades.
The United States and Iran have maintained no diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Shah and established the current theocratic government. For more than four decades, the United States has provided refuge to Iranian dissidents, religious and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ community members, and others fleeing persecution in their homeland. This longstanding policy created a substantial Iranian-American community, particularly in states like California, that has maintained cultural ties while building new lives in America.
The Trump administration’s agreement with Tehran to coordinate deportation of an estimated 2,000 Iranian citizens facing removal orders marks a dramatic policy shift. Previously, the United States deported Iranians individually on commercial airlines rather than organizing dedicated charter flights, making the current operation unprecedented in scope and methodology.
The deportation program represents a collision between President Trump’s top priority of targeting illegal immigration and decades of U.S. practice welcoming Iranian exiles and dissidents. The administration has declared its intention to execute the largest deportation operation in American history, targeting undocumented immigrants and those who crossed the border illegally. Officials have also said they would drastically reduce asylum grants and limit them primarily to white migrants from South Africa or English-speaking Europeans.
Iranians are among citizens of 19 countries targeted in Trump’s travel ban. Their legal immigration pathways have been further restricted following new limits Trump announced after the fatal shooting of a National Guard member in Washington last month. The suspect in that incident is an Afghan immigrant, though the administration expanded restrictions beyond Afghanistan in response.
Iranian officials acknowledged in September that as many as 400 Iranians could be returned under Trump administration policy, suggesting Sunday’s flight represents merely one installment in a much larger deportation campaign. One Iranian official who has worked closely with American counterparts on the transfers explained that Arab and Russian nationals would disembark when the plane lands in Cairo, while Iranians would continue to Kuwait to transfer onto a chartered Kuwait Airways aircraft for the final segment to Tehran.
The mechanics of the deportation arrangement highlight the complex diplomatic gymnastics required when two nations lacking formal relations coordinate on sensitive matters. Switzerland has traditionally served as the protecting power representing U.S. interests in Iran, while Pakistan has performed similar functions for Iran in Washington, providing channels for communication on issues ranging from prisoner swaps to, now, deportation logistics.
Iran has maintained that only individuals facing criminal charges face prosecution upon return, insisting others can travel freely within the country. However, Tehran’s history of detaining Westerners and dual nationals with ties abroad to use as leverage in prisoner exchanges undermines official assurances about safety for returnees. U.S. federal prosecutors have accused Iran of hiring hitmen to target dissidents living in America, further amplifying concerns about what awaits deportees.
The treatment of September’s deportees, who reported being interrogated by Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers, suggests returned asylum seekers face heightened scrutiny regardless of whether they face specific criminal charges. For those who fled Iran citing political persecution, association with opposition movements, religious conversion, or LGBTQ identity, such interrogations could expose them to arrest, prosecution, or worse.
The deportation flights also raise troubling questions about due process and asylum adjudication. If deportees entered through the southern border and languished in detention for months before having asylum claims denied, did they receive adequate legal representation and fair hearings? Were country conditions in Iran properly evaluated, including the documented increase in executions and crackdowns on dissent? These procedural questions will likely fuel legal challenges and congressional scrutiny as the deportation program continues.
As the chartered plane made its way across the Atlantic on Sunday, the 55 Iranians aboard faced an uncertain future in a country many had risked everything to escape. Whether they truly volunteered to return home, as Iranian officials claim, or were coerced by indefinite detention and denied asylum claims remains a central question that will shape how history judges this extraordinary deportation program.
NewYorkTimes/AP
