Fifty-five Iranian nationals have been deported from the United States and returned to Iran, the foreign ministry's consular director general announced on December 7.

Mojtaba Shasti Karimi claimed the individuals had expressed willingness to return to Iran in recent months due to what he described as continued anti-immigration and discriminatory policies by the US government against foreign nationals, particularly Iranians.

The deportees completed legal and administrative procedures through the Iranian interests section at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, which handles Iranian consular affairs in the absence of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington.

Shasti Karimi alleged there had been multiple reports of mistreatment of foreign nationals by US security and law enforcement authorities.

"Unfortunately, numerous cases of beatings and inhumane treatment of foreign nationals and immigrants in America have been reported, which demonstrates the institutionalised racist outlook in the American governance system," he said.

The US has not yet responded to the claims by the Iranian interests section, but increasing footage of Iranians being round up on the streets of the US have flooded the internet in recent months. 

The official said the ministry had received numerous reports of inhumane treatment. He claimed a group returned to Iran in October had been mistreated during their transfer, which was formally protested through official correspondence.

The foreign ministry had issued instructions to the Iranian interests section in Washington and diplomatic missions in transit countries to ensure appropriate and humane treatment of the 55 deportees during their transfer to Iran, Shasti Karimi said.

Iranian government officials have confirmed via Qatari intermediaries that Doha was handling the transfer of willing returnees via its national flag carrier.

Washington-based Iranian National Iranian American Council (NIAC) warned that the Trump administration's plans were unlawful in a press release.

NIAC said it had received information that at least one detainee was physically assaulted by guards while in detention and that detainees were told they would be forced onto the deportation flight against their will, with one reportedly threatened with being drugged if necessary.

"Iranian nationals in the US are entitled to due process. Yet, they are being harshly punished by a system that likes to tout its commitment to justice and humanity, and may be delivered back into the hands of an authoritarian state that the State Department just warned is among the world's worst human rights abusers," said Jamal Abdi, president of NIAC.

The organisation called on the administration to halt the flight, provide detained Iranian nationals full due process, investigate alleged abuses and ensure Iranians are not returned to a state likely to persecute them.

"Iranians like the ones on this imminent deportation flight come here to escape government repression. It is disturbing that, instead of honouring their asylum claims and offering them safety, our own government may be violating their human rights and compounding the harm done to them with abuses in detention," Abdi said

The deportations come amid a broader US immigration enforcement campaign under the Trump administration, which has increased arrests and removals of undocumented immigrants and those with visa violations.

Earlier in November, ICE agents arrested Iranian national Vahid Abedini, working at Oklahoma’s Boren College of International Studies, one of a growing number of professionals targeted by the Trump administration.

Abedini was freed after three days in custody, attributed to media coverage and university advocacy, but a December 7 update reveals he remains free yet cautious, fearing retaliation from Iranian authorities if he speaks publicly about the ordeal.

Joshua Landis wrote on Twitter, “He has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa —a non-immigrant work visa granted to individuals in “specialty occupations,” including higher education faculty.”

Iran and the United States severed diplomatic relations in 1980 following the Islamic Revolution and the US embassy hostage crisis. The two countries communicate through intermediaries and interests sections housed within other nations' embassies.