Court Filings Reveal U.S.-Iran Talks On Wartime Deportations Of Iranians

Court documents unsealed in Washington on Thursday reveal that the Trump administration has been holding secret talks with Iranian officials about deporting Iranian nationals from the United States during the ongoing war, despite its public insistence that it has cut off negotiations with Tehran.^[1]

The filings, released on November 5, show that as of mid-October the administration told a federal court it was preparing to deport Iranians via an unnamed third country and had already begun coordinating with Iranian authorities on travel documents and potential removal routes.^[1] In an October 15 hearing, Justice Department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel acknowledged under questioning that some deported Iranians could face a "serious threat of certain death" if returned, but argued the government was obligated to carry out lawful removal orders.^[1] That same day, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered the Justice Department to give her court 24 hours' notice before finalizing any deportation plan and at least five days' written notice before any Iranian is actually removed from the country.^[1]

The unsealed material emerges from a broader lawsuit in Washington that accuses U.S. agencies of quietly sharing confidential asylum files with Iran's government and coordinating deportation flights even as the U.S. and Iran wage a proxy-laden regional war.^[1] Plaintiffs in that case say U.S. officials have already arranged at least three removal flights between September 2025 and January 2026 that sent more than 100 Iranians back under disputed circumstances, and they argue any further cooperation with Tehran on deportations violates both U.S. asylum protections and basic humanitarian obligations.^[1]

According to Thursday's filings, government lawyers told Judge Reyes in mid-October that deportations to Iran itself were not "imminent," but that arrangements through a third country were advancing and required engagement with Iranian authorities to verify identities and issue travel documents.^[1] That disclosure appears to undercut public messaging from senior officials who have portrayed diplomatic channels with Tehran as frozen since the war began, and it raises the prospect that deportation logistics have become one of the few remaining points of direct contact between the two governments.

The clash before Judge Reyes now centers on whether the administration can legally proceed with removals it concedes may expose people to lethal danger in a country whose government the U.S. has accused of grave human rights abuses. Immigrant advocates say the court's notification order is a critical but temporary brake on a process that could otherwise move out of public view, while the Justice Department maintains that immigration judges' removal orders, once final, must be executed regardless of the foreign policy implications.^[1] The next steps in the case, and whether any deportation flights go forward under the new disclosure rules, will determine how far wartime cooperation between Washington and Tehran extends behind the scenes.

1. PBS News