Court documents unsealed Thursday reveal that President Trump's administration held secret talks with Iran about deporting Iranians even as the war between the two countries dragged on.

According to the records, the administration maintained contacts with Iranian officials during the war over removals, specifically for submitting travel documents and working out "possible avenues for removal."

As recently as mid-October, the government said it planned to deport Iranians through an unnamed third country, though no date was set. Justice Department attorney Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel told the court the government was "executing lawful orders of removal."

The deal emerged from a hearing transcript dated October 15, in which Judge Ana Reyes sharply questioned the government's plans.

"We are at war with a country where the president of the United States has said... that it is essentially lawless," she said, calling Iran "a declared enemy of this country."

She warned that deportees would face "at a minimum, a serious threat of certain death," and told attorneys she would initiate contempt proceedings if the administration violated her order requiring 24-hour notice of any finalized deportation plans and five days' written notice before any removal is carried out.

The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, which brought the lawsuit that produced the transcript, says at least 12 Iranian detainees in ICE custody were contacted in the past week by the Iranian Interest Section — Iran's consular office in the Pakistani embassy in Washington — and notified of an upcoming deportation flight to Iran through Pakistan.

According to the group's executive director Yasmine Chubin, one detainee attempted suicide after learning he might be returned; he was among two people moved to a Texas detention center.

The suit alleges US immigration agencies shared confidential asylum-seeker information with Tehran, which DHS denies.

Deportations to Iran have historically been rare because of the lack of diplomatic relations and the risk of persecution under a theocracy cracking down on dissent.

Hundreds of emails previously showed the two governments together arranged flights returning more than 100 Iranians in September and December 2025 and January 2026.

The Justice Department argues the judge's notice order effectively functions as an injunction, while the court now requires advance warning of any flight. The case marks a striking coordination between two avowed adversaries amid an ongoing war.