Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge in an Oct. 15 hearing that the administration was planning to remove Iranian nationals to Iran through a third country, according to an unsealed transcript described by ABC News¹.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes questioned whether the United States would send people in its custody to a country with which it is at war, ABC News reported¹. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not immediately respond to ABC News¹.

The Associated Press, in an exclusive based on the same unsealed papers, reported that the administration had held talks with Iran on deportations even as the war continued³. Global News carried that AP account, including earlier emails on removal flights before and around the start of the war⁵.

ABC News said the hearing was part of a lawsuit by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund alleging the government shared confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with Iranian authorities¹. The AP reported the legal group said at least a dozen Iranian detainees had been told in the past week they were being deported to Iran³.

ABC News reported that the Iranian Interest Section in Washington sent officials to detention centers in California and Arizona; detainees refused the meetings, according to the transcript¹. The government lawyer said the United States would facilitate travel to a third country and Iran would take them onward¹.

Reyes ordered at least five days' notice before anyone is placed on a removal vehicle or plane and 24 hours' notice of any finalized plan, and said contempt proceedings would follow a violation, ABC News reported¹. The State Department generally does not comment on pending litigation, the AP reported, and referred questions to DHS³.

Whether any removal flight will proceed, and on what date, is not established in the public transcript described by ABC News¹. An Al Jazeera item in the same assignment cluster concerned Iraqi talks with Trump and is a separate story².