The first group of approximately 400 Iranians will be deported back to Iran this week, a U.S. and Iranian official said. 120 Iranians will be deported in the next two days. The deported individuals, most of whom entered illegally, were due to land in Qatar on Tuesday before flying to Iran.

The head of consular affairs at Iran’s foreign ministry, Hossein Noushabadi, stated that most of the group entered the U.S. illegally through Mexico, adding that those deported will arrive in Iran via Qatar. The official said that the Iranian government has asked the U.S. government to “be sensitive in respecting the rights of Iranian immigrants.” Iran has an “interest protection office” in the Pakistani embassy in Washington, DC.

A U.S.-chartered flight took off from Louisiana on Monday and was scheduled to arrive in Qatar late on Tuesday so the deportees could be transferred to a Tehran-bound flight, the U.S. official said. Some of the Iranians had volunteered to leave after being in detention centers for months, and some had not, according to reports. Noushabadi was quoted as saying: “Some (returnees) had residence permits but due to reasons stated by the U.S. immigration office they were included in the list. Of course, their own consent was obtained for their return.”

The deal marks a rare example of cooperation between the American and Iranian governments.