A U.S. deportation flight carrying at least eight Iranian nationals who were ultimately bound for Iran was abruptly canceled on Sunday morning, according to an attorney who spoke with some of the detainees scheduled for repatriation.

Ali Rahnama, a lawyer with the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, said the Iranians were placed on a plane in Mesa, Arizona, for a flight routed first to the country of Georgia and then to Pakistan. Rahnama, who filed emergency motions on behalf of some of the detainees, said the flight was scrapped without any explanation.

Court records unsealed in recent days in a civil lawsuit brought by the fund showed that as recently as mid-October the Trump administration planned to deport the Iranians to Iran by way of an unnamed third country, even as the war there continues. The lawsuit, filed in July, alleges the U.S. government illegally shared confidential information about Iranians seeking asylum in the United States with Iranian officials.

Between September 2025 and January 2026, three deportation flights returned more than 100 Iranian nationals to Iran. The administration's confirmation of new removal plans amid the war that began in February underscores its determination to press ahead with its hardline immigration crackdown, which has included removals to places critics say could put returnees' lives at risk.

Responding to questions on Sunday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not comment on "prospective removal operations, including flight schedules, passenger manifests, destinations, or individual case details," and would not confirm future removals. "As promised, the Trump Administration is employing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history," the statement said.

While the October court filings did not specify when deportations would occur, roughly a dozen Iranians in immigration detention said in the past week that they had been notified they were scheduled for a flight to Pakistan and then Iran, according to numerous attorneys who confirmed those plans with DHS. Rahnama said the eight detainees who boarded Sunday's plane had been visited by a senior official from the Iranian Interests Section, Iran's representative office at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, and were told the Iranian government would transport them from Pakistan to Iran.

In the advocacy group's litigation, at least a dozen Iranian detainees have said they were contacted by Iranian officials who knew sensitive details of their asylum claims. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes, a nominee of President Joe Biden, has not ruled on the claims, but she ordered the government to give the court 24-hour notice of any finalized plans to deport Iranians and five days' written notice before any such deportation takes place. In a filing Sunday, the defense fund argued the administration may have violated that directive, and the government later submitted court documents that were sealed from public view.

The fund has urged a halt to the removal flights, saying in a news release that they would "reportedly mark the first deportation of Iranians to Iran since the U.S.-Iran war began." The group's executive director, Yasmin Chubin, said Sunday it was difficult to comprehend why the United States would forcibly deport Iranians, including asylum seekers, during ongoing military hostilities, warning the consequences "could be irreversible and individuals may face persecution, torture, or death."

Rahnama said at least one person who had been aboard the canceled flight volunteered to return to Iran after nearly two years in detention, driven by desperation to leave what he described as inhumane imprisonment. It is not clear how many of the other deportees may have agreed to go.