President Donald Trump has resumed open hostilities with Iran, waging a war in apocalyptic terms and painting them clearly as an enemy. But behind the scenes, his administration was cooperating with Iran for one specific reason: deportations.
According to The New York Times, sworn affidavits "provide a detailed account of behind-the-scenes contacts that led the United States to deport more than 100 Iranians to Tehran between September 2025 and January 2026, not long before the initiation of U.S. military action against Iran in February."
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund alleges that in the process, the Trump administration violated the law to share confidential information with the Islamic Republic, endangering the deportees' lives and subjecting them to persecution in their country of origin.
All of this unfolded despite the fact that "the United States and Iran have had no formal diplomatic relationship since 1979, and America has generally welcomed people seeking refuge from persecution by the Iranian government," noted the report.
Cyrus Mehri, a workplace discrimination lawyer who co-founded the IALDF last year, "described a phone call and meeting this March with an unnamed Iranian official" who claims to have been in long-term contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Mr. Mehri stated that the contact had started with an 'unsolicited and unexpected' call from the official, whom he had met previously, and who proceeded to share his views about the discussions to deport Iranians, even after Mr. Mehri informed him that they were working 'on opposite sides' of the issue."
All of this comes as the Iran war continues to rage, with no end in sight and disastrous consequences for global energy markets.
It also comes as ICE is under a fresh wave of mounting public outrage, after traffic stops in Houston and Maine ended in agents killing people who weren't even their targets. ICE briefly paused traffic stops in response to outcry, but resumed them again from orders on high given by Trump.