In 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out mass detentions of Iranian citizens and organized their deportation to their homeland. At this time, the United States and Israel launched attacks on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic. On one of the deportation flights, along with the Iranians, there were citizens of Russia and Egypt, reports the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), citing internal ICE documents obtained.
The council has positioned itself as the largest public non-profit organization that has protected the rights of Iranian Americans since 2002, according to its official website. NIAC brought a lawsuit against ICE and obtained the release of documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
Internal correspondence from the migration department shows that two deportation flights were planned for 2025, and that “many logistical obstacles arose” in their implementation. Some documents mention the reluctance of some people to return to Iran. The materials also record court decisions that prohibit the deportation of these individuals to the Islamic Republic, since they do not have issued Iranian passports. These included citizens of Russia and Egypt.
According to internal ICE emails, the order to deport Iranians came directly from the White House during the June 2025 US-Israeli strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. Then-acting immigration director Todd Lyons and other senior officials prioritized the issue, which ultimately led to a mass deportation flight in September 2025, the NGO said.
“While Israel and the United States were dropping bombs on Iran and the President was warning Iranians to evacuate major cities, ICE Tel Aviv was coordinating a massive deportation operation to force vulnerable [из-за миграционного статуса] in the United States, Iranians to return to a country that is being bombed,” said Jamal Abdi, president of NIAC.
In total, at least 577 Iranian nationals have been detained across the U.S. so far in 2025, with 192 arrested in July amid attacks in what NIAC described as an “unprecedented surge in crackdown.” According to the human rights organization, at least one ICE officer worked closely with the Islamic Republic of Iran Interests Section at the Pakistani Embassy during that period. ICE facilitated visits by the department's director to meet with detainees, and the official tried to get additional people included on the deportation flight, citing humanitarian concerns.
On September 30, 2025, ICE placed an Iranian national on a deportation flight who was not on the list. This became clear during the transfer in Qatar. There is no further information about the deportees, but it was previously reported that several Iranian citizens actively resisted boarding the flight, the NIAC statement said.
“There could be two people on board who were previously detained in Guantanamo Bay. In September 2025, a group of Egyptians and Russians were on board a plane carrying Iranian citizens. The nationality of the individuals who may have been from Guantanamo Bay and then placed on a deportation flight is unknown,” adds NIAC.
The NGO also mentions that various emails related to logistics mention the role of Lekhwiya, the Qatari special forces for internal security. All the documents obtained reveal an operation that “demands answers from the most senior officials in government,” said NIAC Policy Director Ryan Costello.
“ICE somehow deported an Iranian who was not even on the passenger list, an unprecedented case that raises serious questions about illegal or forced cross-border movement. The ICE office in Tel Aviv was actively involved in coordinating the deportations of Iranians from the United States even though the flight was not supposed to stop in Israel. And it all goes back to the White House directive,” Costello said.
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing conflict between Washington and Tehran, US President Donald Trump on the social network Truth Social declared “the most destructive economic operation ever carried out against any country” against Iran. The head of the White House emphasized that this would be “economic war and isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
“I also declare that any country that allows its financial institutions, companies, airports or government entities to provide any support to Iran will itself face enormous economic consequences. Oil smuggling, swap lines, money transfers, currency exchanges, ship registries, shell companies – all of this must stop now,” Trump said.
RTVI previously reported on how the United States established a secret oil route in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran prepared a plan in case of escalation of the conflict, including the destruction of underwater fiber optic communication cables located in this waterway.
