Overview
- Reports citing Iranian officials say the aircraft departed Mesa, Arizona and will stop in Egypt and Kuwait.
- Russians and some passengers from unnamed Arab states are expected to be offloaded in Cairo for onward transfer, according to the same accounts.
- The precise number of Russian deportees was not disclosed, though a U.S.-based rights group says it has names of at least 20 Russians detained in Arizona.
- This flight follows earlier group removals, including mass deportations of Russians in June and August and a late‑September charter that reportedly carried about 100 Iranians.
- Advocates say some deportees have been political activists, and two Russians previously removed—Artem Vovchenko and Leonid Melekhin—were arrested on arrival in Russia, a New York Times report on which DHS later pushed back, saying the pair attempted to enter the U.S. illegally.