Trump admin held talks with Iran on deporting Iranians during war, court documents show

Washington: President Donald Trump's administration held secret talks with Iran on deporting Iranians even as the war there dragged on, court documents show.

The court documents unsealed Thursday show the Republican administration as recently as mid-October said it had plans to deport the Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when it intended to do so.

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The judge in the case ordered the government to give the court 24-hour notice of any finalised plans to deport Iranians to Iran or to any other country and five days' written notice before any such deportation is carried out.

The documents show that the administration maintained contacts with Iranian officials during the war over the removals, specifically for submitting travel documents and figuring out "possible avenues for removal".

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"We are at war with a country where the President of the United States has said, as recently as two or three days ago, if not yesterday, that it is essentially lawless... A country that is an enemy of the United States, according to the current president. A country that, according to our president, murdered tens of thousands of protestors," Judge Ana Reyes said according to the Oct 15 transcript.

"And what you're telling me is that the United States of America is going to send individuals back to that region, facing what you and I and everyone who would ever look at this would know would be, at a minimum, a serious threat of certain death."

"Yes, your honour," Justice Department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel said. "The government is executing lawful orders of removal."

The Department of Homeland Security had no immediate comment.

The development emerged from an ongoing lawsuit that alleges the Trump administration's immigration agencies have been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government, violating national immigration regulations and endangering countless Iranians, court filings argue.

The new court documents show the coordination continued during the war.

The lawsuit depicts a coordinated campaign between the US and Iranian governments to identify Iranians in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and pressure them to return to Iran - a marked departure from decades of diplomatic hostility between the two governments and an ongoing war.