(IRAN) Iran’s government is preparing to receive a second charter plane of deportees from the United States, as officials in Tehran say a second group of 55 Iranian nationals is being expelled under President Donald Trump’s tightened immigration policies, but have yet to disclose when the flight will land.
Mojtaba Shasti Karimi, director‑general of consular affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, told Iran’s judiciary‑run Mizan News Agency that 55 Iranian nationals have been detained and are being deported from the US, describing them as the second group removed in recent months. Iranian outlets say the country is now waiting for the arrival of that aircraft, though neither Iranian nor US authorities have released a detailed schedule for the journey or publicly named any of the passengers.
Karimi said the group is being returned to Iran and that the Foreign Ministry has issued instructions to its diplomatic missions in transit countries to ensure “proper and humane” treatment of the 55 nationals while they are moved between US custody and their final arrival in Iran. The report did not specify which transit hubs will be used, the exact route of the flight, or the airport where the plane is due to land, adding to uncertainty for families in Iran who are trying to track the return of relatives.
The announcement follows earlier international reporting that US immigration authorities were preparing a mass removal of Iranians in early December. A BBC report on December 5 said US officials planned to deport more than 50 Iranians within 48 hours, holding them at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, facility in Arizona and scheduling a charter flight on December 6 to Egypt, with onward travel to Iran via Kuwait. The BBC said the detainees were due to be placed on a dedicated removal flight rather than moved on commercial routes.
CNN also reported on the planned December charter and interviewed an Iranian man who said he was slated to be on that flight. The man told CNN he had fled Iran because of his sexual orientation and feared he would face deadly danger if forced to return.
“Certainly, if I go back to my country, my life will be in danger,”
he said, according to CNN. The network said it could not independently verify his account or the exact status of his asylum claim but reported that he remained in US detention pending deportation.
Iranian officials have not confirmed whether that CNN interviewee or the Iranians mentioned in the BBC report are among the 55 Iranian nationals now being referred to as the second group. Karimi’s comments to Mizan News Agency focused on the logistics and treatment of the deportees rather than their personal circumstances, and state-linked media in Tehran have so far not carried individual testimonies from people on the upcoming flight.
The second group is part of a broader removal operation that Iranian diplomats say could eventually send hundreds of people back from the United States. On the first charter flight, on September 29, US authorities deported 120 Iranians, including three women, to Iran under security escort. That earlier plane marked the start of what officials in Tehran describe as a larger plan by US immigration authorities to clear a backlog of Iranian cases.
An Iranian expelled on that September 29 flight told the London-based outlet Iran International that detainees “had faced mistreatment in US facilities” and that force was used during their transfer. His account, carried by Iran International, alleged rough handling during detention and transport, though US officials did not publicly respond to the specific claims in that report. The description of mistreatment has fed concern in Iran about how the second group may be treated on their way home.
Hossein Noushabadi, director general for parliamentary and consular affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said at the time of the first flight that US immigration authorities intended to deport nearly 400 Iranians in total. In earlier comments about the broader operation, Noushabadi said the “US Immigration Service is planning to expel about 400 Iranians,” adding that “most of whom entered illegally,” often by crossing into the United States via Mexico. His remarks suggested that many of those now in line for removal had tried to reach the US through irregular routes in the Americas rather than by flying directly from Iran.
Noushabadi also said that not everyone on the deportation lists lacked legal documents. He stated that some deportees had residence permits but were still placed on the list for removal. In his public appeal, he urged Washington “to be sensitive to respecting the rights of Iranian immigrants, their citizenship rights, and the recognized rights afforded to them by international law” and not to deprive them of consular services and “the right to a fair trial.” Those comments framed Tehran’s position as focused both on the scale of the expulsions and on the legal and humanitarian standards applied to each case.
For now, the Foreign Ministry has confirmed only the outline of the new transfer: a second group, 55 people, and a plan to return them to Iran through transit countries under instructions for “proper and humane” handling. Iranian officials have not given precise information about how many more charter flights might follow after this second group, or when the larger figure of nearly 400 Iranians, cited by Noushabadi, might be reached.
The lack of a published flight schedule has left the families of the second group relying on fragmentary media reports and statements from officials. According to the latest accounts, Iranian media say the country is still awaiting the arrival of the plane with the 55 nationals, but as of the most recent reporting they have not confirmed the exact arrival date or time. That uncertainty stands in contrast to the more detailed picture sketched in the BBC report, which cited a specific ICE facility in Arizona, a charter departure date, and stopovers in Egypt and Kuwait before the deportees reached Iran.
The role of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in organizing such charter flights is part of standard removal operations, which the agency says it conducts to carry out final deportation orders issued under US law. General information about ICE removal operations is available on the agency’s official website. The Iranian accounts, however, have highlighted questions about conditions in detention and the use of force, especially in light of the Iran International interview with a man from the first flight who said detainees “had faced mistreatment in US facilities.”
The Iranian man interviewed by CNN ahead of the December charter underlined different fears, saying he faced life-threatening danger if returned because of his sexual orientation. His statement, “Certainly, if I go back to my country, my life will be in danger,” captured the anxiety of some of those on the US deportation lists who say they left Iran to escape persecution. CNN noted that it could not verify his claims, but his account echoed wider concerns raised by human rights groups in other contexts about deporting people who say they risk violence or worse if sent back.
Tehran’s insistence on consular access and legal protections, conveyed by both Karimi and Noushabadi, signals that Iran wants to be seen as closely involved in what happens to its citizens in US custody, even as it rejects Washington’s decision to expel them. By instructing its diplomatic missions in transit countries to ensure “proper and humane” treatment, the Foreign Ministry is seeking to shape events on the ground in places where the deportees may be held briefly before boarding connecting flights.
For the 55 people in the second group, the journey back to Iran will follow a path already traced by the 120 passengers removed on September 29, but under heightened scrutiny from media and officials on both sides. Their cases sit at the intersection of US immigration enforcement, Iran’s consular outreach, and the personal stories of people who left their country, in some instances by way of Mexico, and now face a forced return.
As Iranian media track the approaching charter, and as relatives wait for word on when and where the plane will land, the only confirmed facts remain those provided by officials: a second group, 55 Iranian nationals, a charter removal operation linked to President Donald Trump’s tightened immigration policies, and an arrival that, for now, still does not have a publicly announced time.
Iran confirmed a second group of 55 nationals is being deported from the United States, with no public arrival schedule or passenger names. Tehran instructed its diplomatic missions in transit countries to ensure “proper and humane” treatment during transfers. The move follows a Sept. 29 charter that deported 120 Iranians and sits within broader reports that US authorities may remove nearly 400 people. Families remain anxious as details on routes and timing are scarce.
