The United States has deported dozens of people to the Central African Republic, including a young Afghan whose family members had worked with US forces, according to his lawyer and human rights organizations.

The Afghan man, who is in his early 20s, had been protected by a US court from being sent back to Afghanistan, his lawyer, Alma David, said.

AfghanEvac, which supports Afghans who assisted the United States, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First, confirmed that he was among those deported.

One of his brothers, who now lives in the United States, served in the former Afghan National Army alongside US forces. Another brother was a US-trained pilot.

The New York Times, which referred to the Afghan man as Khalil, reported that his father and sister had also worked with US forces.

The deportation flight arrived in Bangui, the Central African Republic’s capital, on Saturday. It carried 12 Afghans and eight Iranians, as well as several nationals from Nepal and Nicaragua, according to Savi Arvey of Human Rights First.

Human Rights First said the flight was the third deportation operation from the United States to the Central African Republic this year.

The deportations are part of the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown, which has included sending migrants to countries with which they have little or no connection under agreements reached with third governments.

The US State Department currently advises Americans against traveling to the Central African Republic, warning of potential risks including unrest, crime, kidnapping, health concerns and terrorism.

According to a statement from the Afghan Embassy in Indonesia, the two sides discussed expanding bilateral relations, religious and cultural cooperation, exchanging experiences between scholars from the two countries, and holding joint programs and meetings.

They also emphasized strengthening ties between religious institutions in Afghanistan and Indonesia and continuing contacts and joint cooperation.

Saadullah Baluch, Afghanistan’s acting ambassador to Jakarta, was also present at the meeting.

Iranian leaders are acknowledging the economic toll of war with the U.S., with the supreme leader urging the government to ​address the hardship and the president saying foreign trade has shrunk by a third due to the American sanctions and blockade.

Yet Tehran signalled no retreat on Saturday, ‌vowing to withstand U.S. pressure, pursue diplomacy and maintain what it said was control over the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway giving Iran leverage through its ability to disrupt global energy markets, Reuters reported.

The government said in a statement on state media that addressing economic pressures caused by sanctions and war was a central focus, including curbing inflation, managing markets, creating jobs, directing investment towards domestic production and gradually reducing dependence on the dollar.

Six months after the U.S. and ​Israel launched the war, negotiations are at an impasse and President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to punish Iran financially with what it has billed as an “economic D-Day”.

SANCTIONS ​COMPOUND TOLL ON IRAN’S ECONOMY

Washington has warned countries to cut business ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions, though the Treasury Department stopped short of imposing ⁠penalties against major Iranian trade partners such as China and India, which could have repercussions for the U.S. and global economies.

The Treasury imposed sanctions on Egypt’s Banque Misr for doing business with Tehran, proposing ​a rule that would cut off the bank’s branches in the United Arab Emirates from dollar transactions.

Egypt’s central bank said it and the foreign ministry were in contact with U.S. officials concerning the matter, ​adding the measure was limited to Banque Misr UAE’s U.S. dollar transactions with correspondent banks only.

Banque Misr said on Saturday it was reviewing the U.S. Treasury notice, adding that its branch in the UAE continued to provide banking services to its customers.

The U.S. has also issued sanctions targeting an entity based in Hong Kong and a person linked to Iran’s Bank Melli, according to a notice on the Treasury website.

The sanctions drive compounds the toll of ​the war on Iran’s economy, where annual inflation hit 66% last month.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei — who has not been seen publicly since he was injured in the initial February 28 attack that killed his ​father and former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — called on the government to tackle the economic hardship.

“There is the need to seriously address the chain of economic and livelihood challenges, such as inflation, unemployment, management of prices ‌and the ⁠market for goods and services,” he said, according to a written statement attributed to Khamenei.

President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media that Iranian exports and imports had slumped nearly 35% because of U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

But he said Iran was able to sell about 90 million barrels of oil during the short-lived memorandum of understanding that the U.S. and Iran signed in June, when Washington permitted Iranian oil sales.

Later on Saturday, Pezeshkian called on state TV for a revival of the interim deal, which was signed on June 17 but quickly unravelled amid disagreements over what had been agreed, especially ​on the status of the Strait of Hormuz.

“We ​can solve our problems and gain our ⁠privileges with the memorandum of understanding,” he said of a document that had offered Iran, among other things, immediate relief from U.S. sanctions and the release of its frozen assets.

IRAN VOWS TO PURSUE DIPLOMACY AND DEFENCE

With the U.S. focused on its economic pressure campaign, others have sought to revive diplomatic ​efforts to end the war.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with Iranian leaders in Tehran on Thursday. He said he ​had stressed during the meeting ⁠the importance of returning to the pre-war status of open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday described the talks with Al Thani as “creative”.

In Saturday’s statement, Iran said diplomacy and defence were “two complementary, coordinated and inseparable wings” for protecting the country’s national interests, security and territorial integrity. It said it would pursue both tracks in a balanced manner.

Qatar, a U.S. ally and Gulf neighbour to Iran, ⁠and Pakistan helped ​broker the June memorandum of understanding.

Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz carried 20% of the world’s oil and LNG. ​U.S. military commanders say American forces have cleared sea mines from the strait that had been laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Trump has repeatedly said the strait is open, but the Revolutionary Guards’ navy said in a statement ​that such claims “are an obvious lie”, reiterating that the waterway remained closed to ships without Iranian permission.