ICE-Iran Affair: New Lawsuit Targets Marco Rubio, DHS, ICE for Sharing Confidential Information
A recently filed federal lawsuit has revealed that ICE has been in communication with Iranian government officials over the past year, before the US began its war on Iran. What the lawsuit brings to light is how much access Iranian officials, both stateside and abroad, have been provided with by the Trump Administration; dossiers of Iranian detainees in ICE detention and sensitive information of theirs that should remain confidential, such as details of their asylum cases.
There are no consulates for Iran in the US since formal political relations between the US and Iran have been severed since the 1979 revolution. In its stead existed the Iranian Interests Section, a body operating within the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, DC, that oversees consular duties in the US. It’s said that US officials “courted” the Iranian Interests Section as “part of its broader mass deportation efforts” in March 2025, almost a year before the US began its war on Iran, dropping bombs on civilian infrastructure and killing Iranian schoolchildren.
The official complaint filed by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund (IALDF) against Secretary of State Marco Rubio, DHS, and ICE features testimonies from Iranians in ICE detention on the terrible conditions they’ve been living in for months, and the unexpected meetings and phone calls they’ve had with officials of the Iranian Interests Section or the Iranian government itself.
The IALDF, a US-based nonprofit that provides pro-bono immigration and asylum legal services and represents Iranians detained by ICE, shared information from an Iranian official of monthly meetings between US and Iranian government officials, to discuss matters like possible deportations.
One Iranian asylum seeker being held at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona shared the precarious nature of her case and her belief that the details of her case for asylum were illegally shared with the Iranian government or the Iranian Interests Section. After refusing to sign deportation papers that would send her to an unknown country in Africa—which was the fate of two Iranian women in June who were sent to the Central African Republic—an ICE agent physically forced her thumb to fingerprint the papers against her will. She was transferred to Louisiana for deportation, until her lawyers were able to step in to prevent it.
While matters of this new suit are still undergoing judicial confirmation, DHS officials have stated that they are doing nothing out of legal bounds, and that they want to ensure all detainees know they are able to connect with their respective nation’s consulate.
Every aspect of the mass deportation machine, from the undrinkable water to the unforeseen transfers between facilities, to meetings with this and that government official, to the lack of proper medical care, plays a part in the demoralization of those kidnapped and held hostage by ICE for months to years.
Detainees are left with few options, none of which are favorable. Stay and hold out hope for seeking asylum; return home to leave the horrific conditions of ICE-run concentration camps, to navigate the harsh realities left behind; self-deport and leave the only life you’ve known in the US to an unfamiliar land.
It’s said that since the war, monthly meetings between US and Iranian government officials have ceased, though reports have shown that ICE dossiers have still made their way to Iranian officials.
Whatever agenda DHS has meeting directly with Iranian government officials is not completely clear, but it is obvious that the goal is to keep the mass deportation machine going.
Sources:
https://www.citizen.org/litigation/iranian-american-legal-defense-fund-v-rubio/
https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/IALDF-v.-Rubio_PI-Stay-Exhibits-1.pdf
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/07/g-s1-132294/lawsuit-asylum-iran
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/us/politics/state-dept-ice-iran-deportation.html
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/iran-us-asylum-lawsuit-9.7277110
US Ends Military Occupation of Iraq in September After 23 Years
US and Iraqi officials have announced that after 23 years of US occupation and war in Iraq, US troops will leave the country in September. This plan to leave Iraq comes after months of negotiations regarding transitioning security responsibilities, ending the so-called ‘Global Coalition against Daesh’, and ensuring US companies continue to exploit Iraq’s resources. As Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said, “U.S. forces will be out of Iraq while US companies will be inside Iraq.” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also indicated that the US is continuing to use Iraq as a proxy in the region including in the war on Iran.
Over the last 25 years the US has waged war on Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, with Presidents touting the same empty narrative about how they will win these wars in a matter of weeks. Then years later, thousands of lives lost, and billions of dollars sunk into the war machine, there is no real victory and the countries it occupies are left devastated. US focuses on military power, not diplomacy, and it has no plan for peace after the killing, or the kind of long-term occupation that empires are typically known for because the US is looking to control resources and maintain political and financial domination.
Sources:
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/iraq-war-photos/
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/18/g-s1-134037/why-is-it-so-hard-for-the-u-s-to-win-wars
https://www.instagram.com/p/DaznipxM1qe/
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle_east/2026-07-15/last-us-troops-leave-iraq-22271468.html
Cuba Blackouts and Food Shortages Worsen
Cuba has been facing worsening blackouts and food shortages since the intensification of the US resource blockage on the country. Early 2026, the US leveraged its military intervention in Venezuela to cut off Cuba’s oil lifeline and has continued to tighten sanctions on any country that attempts to ship oil to the island country. This development has marked the strictest de-facto blockade on Cuba since to Cuban Missile Crisis.
As of the beginning of June, “…infant mortality has doubled to 9.9 per 1,000 births; childhood cancer survival rates have fallen from 85% to 65%; and essential medicines are available at only around 30% of normal supply levels,” according to a report by the United Nations. Numbers have only worsened in the past month.
The blackouts have come to a fever pitch in the past few weeks with multiple outages lasting over 24-hours and affecting nearly the entire island. The US has been using its stranglehold to step up its political posturing both against Cuba directly with Department of War officials planning for the possibility of direct military operations, and indirectly with targeting of leftwing movements domestically. A stark example of the latter struck the nation earlier this week with the unexpected release of a 100-page report by the State Department that alleged Cuban involvement is a huge number of progressive movements in the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/21/us-state-department-report-cuba
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuba-military-options-pentagon/
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167671
Hegseth Announces Testosterone Therapy for Cisgender Service Members
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced his initiative to create a “High-T Department of War” on a social media video last Wednesday. His manosphere obsession with testosterone prompted him to instate a mandatory testosterone measuring program for all service members (men and women) over 30. Despite medical science showing no strong evidence for testosterone’s ability to help build muscle mass at the dosage given through hormone replacement therapy, Hegseth promised the choice of testosterone replacement therapy for the cisgender troops who test lower than his expectations while also removing transgender troops from the military because some of them use hormone replacement therapy. US District Judge Ana Reyes has ordered the court to hearing Talbot v United States to consider this new policy when assessing the legality of President Trump’s ban on transgender military service.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/us/politics/hegseth-troops-testosterone.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/21/us-launches-tenth-consecutive-night-of-attacks-on-iran
https://www.them.us/politics/judge-hegseth-testosterone-transgender
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69583866/talbott-v-trump/
Behind Enemy Lines 