"In the first step," said Iranian foreign ministry’s director general for parliament affairs Hossein Noushabadi, "they decided to deport 120 Iranians who entered the US illegally, most of whom through Mexico."
Two Iranian officials said that the US-chartered flight left Louisiana on Monday and will arrive in Iran on Tuesday. The identities of those aboard the plane have not yet been revealed, nor their reasons for coming illegally to the US, said The New York Times.
The plan, said Noushabadi, is for about 400 Iranians to be sent back to their home country. He said that this would be happening over the coming months and that those who are being returned all had left Iran legally and some had US residency.
For many of those leaving the States, their petition for asylum had been denied or their cases had not yet been heard. "Iran will certainly welcome migrants who, for any reason, had previously emigrated to the United States," Noushabadi said.
Iran and the US do not have regular diplomatic relations and so the ability of the US to deport Iranians has been limited. Those who were detained by American authorities were often stuck in detention centers or simply released into the US.
Some of those returning home "volunteered to leave after being in detention centers for months, and some had not," the Times said, citing Iranian officials. The US conducted a series of strikes on Iran in June in an effort to prevent their nuclear weapons program from going forward.
