“Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases.” An unnamed ICE official typed that line in late August 2025, a month before the first deportation flight to Iran left the United States. It is one of hundreds of emails now public that show how closely American and Iranian officials worked on removals, even as relations between the two governments soured.
The Associated Press reported on August 20, 2026 that the National Iranian American Council obtained the messages and released them on Tuesday. They cover more than 100 Iranians flown home on three flights, in September and December 2025 and January 2026. The AP said the emails were first reported by The Intercept.
Iran’s requests, ICE’s changes
According to the AP, the messages show Iranian officials had some say over who was sent back. ICE appears to have accepted some late changes to the deportation lists. Just over a week after the “added a few cases” note, the same official moved to alter the list again after meeting what the email called the “Director at the Iranian Embassy.” “Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process,” the official wrote.
On Sept. 26, three days before the first flight, an ICE official wrote that the embassy still wanted three more Iranians aboard. The AP said it is unclear who ended up on that flight, which was much smaller than planned. Requests kept arriving on departure day, though one official wrote that they were denied.
Iranian officials said in September 2025 that as many as 400 Iranians could be returned under an agreement with the Trump administration. They said most had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally and that some had other immigration problems. The emails do not say whether the people on Iran’s lists went willingly. The New York Times has reported earlier that asylum-seekers were among those deported, and that some said they were sent back against their will.
Not all contact was direct. Some messages passed through Qatari officials, who helped charter the flights through Doha. Others mention meetings with an “Iranian delegation.” One email admitted a mistake: “An Iranian not included on the final manifest we sent to the Qatari MOI was boarded on the flight.” A second official answered, “I have no idea how the case/person got through on the plane.” DHS told the AP the man was deported as a “possible national security risk” who entered illegally, and called the idea of an inadvertent removal “total fabrication.”
Pushing ahead during the war
Pressure came from the top, the emails suggest, even during the 12-day conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran, June 13 to June 24, 2025. Days after Trump’s June 16 post telling everyone to “immediately evacuate Tehran!”, then acting ICE director Todd Lyons called repatriating Iranians a “priority” in a message to removal chief Marcos Charles.
A staffer warned that “removal will prove difficult”: Iran was not issuing travel documents, its airspace was shut, and Iranians were fleeing the country. Charles told staff to build a plan for the 58 Iranians in ICE custody with final removal orders. “We need a plan forward ASAP,” he wrote. Another official urged colleagues to find a solution for this “White House priority.”
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said the emails show “the top priority here was to kick out as many people as possible by whatever means necessary.”
Meetings with detainees
The emails also show ICE arranging for Iranian officials to meet detainees in the U.S. for unstated reasons. That echoes a July lawsuit in Washington, D.C., where 11 Iranians in immigration detention swore they were made to meet Iranian officials who knew detailed facts about their asylum claims. The suit alleges that U.S. agencies illegally shared confidential asylum information with Iran. Washington may coordinate logistics with foreign governments, but regulations from the late 1990s bar disclosure that could reveal someone sought asylum. DHS said the allegations are “FALSE” and that ICE works with every country to get travel documents.
A DHS spokesperson also said the administration is using “all lawful options” in what it called the largest deportation operation in history, and that those removed included terrorists, human smugglers and suspected foreign agents.
