Rubio ordered the Iranian delegation at the UN to leave the US immediately after talks stalled

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation to the UN General Assembly to leave New York immediately, after indirect talks between the two sides had stalled, as the Associated Press reports, citing two US officials. The decision was first reported by Axios.

Araghchi had remained in New York after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s speech at the UN last week, reportedly to take part in indirect talks with the US on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, ending the conflict and restarting negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. According to the US officials, the White House believed on Monday morning that the talks could make progress later in the day, but by the afternoon it was clear the negotiations had stalled. That evening, on Rubio’s order, the US mission to the UN told the Iranian mission that the delegation had to leave immediately; Araghchi and his team departed very early on Tuesday on a flight from New York to Doha.

The Iranian delegation to the UN, however, denied on Wednesday that it had been ordered to leave. “The Iranian delegation left New York on Monday evening, in accordance with the plan communicated to the State Department earlier, on September 17,” the delegation wrote on its official X account, adding: “Having achieved nothing, the State Department has resorted to baseless and worthless news.”

The order is described as an extremely unusual diplomatic rebuke that reveals the deep mistrust between Washington and Tehran, while efforts to end the war have gone nowhere. Qatari mediators had made little progress in weekend meetings, with neither side willing to give ground. The move comes after President Donald Trump confirmed he had rejected an Iranian peace proposal that would have reopened Hormuz, and as Washington continues to threaten new strikes if Iran does not accept stricter limits on its nuclear program.