U.S. expels two Iranian diplomats from New York after they ignored departure order

Two members of the Iranian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly were sent home by the U.S. State Department on Friday evening and Saturday morning, even though they had been ordered to leave days earlier, as the Washington Examiner reports.

“Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio means business,” a U.S. official told the newspaper. “Two other members of the Iranian delegation were still in New York long after the UN General Assembly had ended. Now they have been expelled from the U.S.”

The diplomats had remained in the United States throughout the week, despite Monday’s order that the entire delegation leave the country immediately as soon as the global summit ended. Rubio had ordered Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation to leave, after the weekend talks with intermediaries had stalled.

President Donald Trump spoke again about the conflict on Saturday afternoon, saying that “we have a decision to make on Iran” and that the country is “practically giving up any plan for nuclear weapons”. Trump had earlier confirmed that he had rejected the latest peace proposal from the Iranian negotiators during the summit.

Iran’s mission to the UN rejected the American version, writing on social media that “the Iranian delegation left New York on Monday evening, according to the schedule communicated in advance to the State Department on 17 September”, and calling the expulsion claim “baseless and worthless news”. The summit was held in New York between 18 and 28 September.