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US Begins Deporting Hundreds of Iranians After Rare Deal With Tehran
USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, Sept. 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The first group of about 400 Iranians expected to be deported from the US under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown were due to land in Qatar on Tuesday before flying to Tehran, a US and an Iranian official said.
The group included both convicted criminals and people who had entered the country illegally, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The transfer marks an unusual moment of coordination between two nations at loggerheads over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is purely civilian but Washington asserts is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.
The Iranian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, played down the idea of any political deal with the US, which joined Israeli air strikes on Iran and its nuclear facilities in June. The matter was consular, not political, the official said.
CALL TO RESPECT IRANIANS‘ RIGHTS
The Iranian foreign ministry’s director general for parliament affairs, Hossein Noushabadi, said the US was “planning to deport around 400 Iranians, most of whom entered the country illegally, in line with the new anti-immigrant approach of the US government.”
“In the first step, they decided to deport 120 Iranians who entered the US illegally, most of whom through Mexico,” he told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Noushabadi called on Washington to respect the rights of Iranian migrants in the United States.
The first group of 120 would reach Iran in the next one or two days, he said.
A US-chartered flight took off from Louisiana on Monday and was scheduled to arrive in Qatar late on Tuesday so the deportees could be transferred to a Tehran-bound flight, the US official said.
The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said it had not been consulted by the authorities and could not comment on the specifics of any case.
“In general terms, states must ensure access to asylum, due process, and respect for the principle of non-refoulement, meaning that people in need of international protection must not be returned to a place where they face risk of harm,” UNHCR said.
TRUMP’S DEPORTATION PLANS
Some of the Iranians had volunteered to leave after being in detention centers for months, and some had not, according to The New York Times, which first reported the deportations.
Noushabadi was quoted as saying: “Some [returnees] had residence permits but due to reasons stated by the US immigration office they were included in the list. Of course, their own consent was obtained for their return.”
Trump plans to deport a record number of people living in the US without legal status, after high illegal border crossings under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
However, his administration has struggled to increase deportation levels, even as it has created new avenues to send migrants to countries other than their own.
Among those avenues was an agreement with Panama in February that saw dozens of people from different countries, including Iran, deported there.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.