December 8, 2025 06:11 PM IST
First published on: Dec 8, 2025 at 06:11 PM IST
Comments
Print
Share
Whatsapp
twitter
Facebook
A flight carrying illegal immigrants deported from the US. (Photo: Reuters/ File)
Iranian officials said that a chartered flight carrying Iranians, Russians, and immigrants from some Arab countries who were deported by the Donald Trump administration has left the US.
According to a report published by the Mizan news agency, the official mouthpiece of Iran’s judiciary, there are a total of 55 Iranians on the deportation flight.
Deportation flight to stop in Egypt, Kuwait
“These individuals announced their willingness for return following continuation of anti-immigration and discriminatory policy against foreign nationals, particularly Iranians, by the United States,” Mojtaba Shasti Karimi, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official, said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei also said Sunday there were plans for 55 Iranians to return to the Islamic Republic.
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters.(Photo: REUTERS/File)
A New York Times report, which quoted an Iranian official, said that the flight, which left the US on Sunday, will make stops in Egypt and Kuwait. According to the official, Arab and Russian nationals would get off the plane when it landed in Cairo, and the Iranians would then travel on to Kuwait, where they would transfer to a chartered Kuwait Airways airplane for the final leg to Tehran.
Story continues below this ad
Who are the deportees?
Iran and the US have not had diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. But over the years, the US has sheltered hundreds of Iranian dissidents, religious and ethnic minorities who fled persecution in the country. Iran has criticised Washington for hosting dissidents and others in the past.
The Associated Press reported that the identities of those deported to Iran and the reasons for their deportation are unknown.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson, citing US media reports, said “the Iranians were repatriated because of legal reasons and breach of immigration regulations.”
The US-chartered deportation flight for Iranians was the second of its kind, after the first took off in September, following months of negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Story continues below this ad
In September, Iranian officials acknowledged as many as 400 Iranians could be returned under the Trump administration policy. That month, the first such flight arrived in Tehran.
According to a Reuters report, those deported in September included both convicted criminals and people who had entered the country illegally.
Share
A flight carrying illegal immigrants deported from the US. (Photo: Reuters/ File) 
