The third group of detained Iranians, after enduring months of legal limbo, harassment, detention, and pressure, arrived at Imam Khomeini International Airport on Monday, January 26.
As the first faces slowly emerged, nearly all were wearing masks—not as a formality, but out of fear of viral illnesses which, according to them, had spread widely inside US detention centers and prisons.
Their journey home was long and exhausting: from the United States to Cairo, from Cairo to Kuwait, and finally to Iran. Long hours of flight, sleeplessness, exhausted bodies, and worn-down minds followed months of detention, humiliation, and pressure.
Some were so physically weakened that they were unable even to stand in front of the camera. Many preferred to postpone interviews to another time. Yet almost all repeated the same sentence: “There is nothing on the other side of the borders. They make the dream look beautiful, but everything is hollow.”
One of the most disturbing common accounts was that many of them lacked even proper clothing. The clothes they were wearing upon arrival, they said, had been provided by Iran’s diplomatic mission in the US. For individuals who had lived for years in another country, the lack of basic clothing symbolized not poverty, but humiliation.
Among the deportees were individuals who had lived in the United States for up to 40 years—people with American spouses, established businesses, tax records, and full lives. Some had been detained for periods ranging from four months to as long as 16 months before finally setting foot on Iranian soil again.
They spoke of various forms of psychological and physical abuse: prolonged uncertainty, lack of information, and constant fear.
One man, identified as Mr. Mirakhouri, stood before the camera and said, “I lived in the US for 30 years. I worked in radiology. One day, several strong-built men with covered faces came to my workplace and arrested us without any explanation. None of us knew why. I had a lawyer. I had committed no violation. But they said it was a direct order. They said it was conveyed by Trump. They said their country was at war with Iran and that Iranians had to be detained.”
He described a large camp in the state of Nevada, filled with Iranian women and lacking even the most basic hygienic and nutritional facilities.
“It was extremely tragic… terrifying,” he said.
His voice briefly broke as he continued, “Some members of the same group that has now returned to Iran contracted viral illnesses and were kept in quarantine.”
“They didn’t even give us proper clothing. The medications they gave us were the same drugs given to prisoners. We were not prisoners, yet one by one we fell ill. I personally suffered from pneumonia for 42 days. There was no doctor, no MRI machine, no medical facilities at all.”
After a pause, he repeated a phrase echoed by others: “A Nazi-like, fascist system.”
This time, he directly addressed Iranian youth with a blunt warning: “Those who dream of going to America—don’t go. It’s all lies. They imprison your mind and soul, and after 30 years of life, suddenly someone like Trump appears and, without any reason, strips you of everything and throws you out.”
He spoke of the long days of captivity in short, heavy sentences: “I was detained for 90 days. I had no visitation rights, not even phone calls. Eventually, they took me to something like a show trial. I told them there: just send me back to my country; I don’t want the green card.”
He then spoke of the joy of seeing Iran’s deserts, cities, and streets again—of security and belonging.
“They sold us a dream there, but reality was something else. Here, real and extraordinary life is flowing.”
Another middle-aged woman, speaking calmly but with a broken voice, said, “There is nothing there. I went, and all I gained was regret—eight months of detention. Tell the young people: none of what they promise there is real.”
She referred to repeated statements by the US president about “friendship with the Iranian people,” saying the reality was entirely different.
A young man added, “We were in prison, without even minimal hygienic facilities. They constantly told us they were at war with Iran. If I had to describe America in one sentence? It’s not what people see.”
Tasnim journalists found that these individuals were held in conditions similar to prisons. Some contracted viral diseases and were quarantined, and it is said that more than half of them remained in detention centers until just before their deportation.
These individuals constitute the third group of Iranian nationals forced to leave US territory under immigration directives issued during Donald Trump’s presidency—a group that returned home not with souvenirs, but with the bitter story of a sold dream.