Foreign Ministry: Iran to Receive 120 Nationals Returning from the U.S.
WANA (Sep 30) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that 120 citizens will return from the United States in the coming days. The announcement came alongside a report in The New York Times, which claimed that Washington, following an agreement with Tehran, deported about 100 Iranians on a chartered flight.
Hossein Nushabadi, Director General for Parliamentary and Consular Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, confirmed on Saturday that “U.S. immigration authorities had planned to deport around 400 Iranians who are currently in the United States—most of whom had entered illegally. In the first stage, 120 of them have been placed on the list and are expected to return to Iran within the next couple of days.”
He added: “The Foreign Ministry has followed up on this issue through the Iranian Interests Section in Washington and the U.S. Interests Section in Tehran, submitting notes to the U.S. government regarding the need to respect the rights of Iranian migrants. Iran will host its returning citizens and provide them with appropriate consular services.”
A family ready for leaving the country. Social media/ WANA News Agency
According to Nushabadi, some of these individuals held valid residency permits in the U.S. but were nonetheless included on the deportation list by immigration authorities. He stressed that “their return is being carried out with their consent, and the Islamic Republic of Iran has no obstacle to their re-entry, as they remain citizens of the country.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported, citing two Iranian officials and one American official, that a chartered flight left the state of Louisiana on Monday night and was scheduled to arrive in Iran via Qatar. The newspaper described the move as “one of the clearest examples of the Trump administration’s hardline anti-immigration policy.”
According to the report, those deported included both men and women; some had agreed to return after months in detention, while others were placed on the flight unwillingly. The newspaper also noted that in the past year, dozens of Iranians had already been returned on commercial flights—the highest number in recent years.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry underscored that all those returning had originally left the country legally, and regardless of how they entered the U.S., the government considers itself responsible for their protection.
Pezeshkian displays images of those killed in Iran’s 12-day war at the UN. 24 Sep 2025. Social media / WANA News Agency
