Iran’s FM: US Claim of Kicking out Iranian Diplomats Oozes Desperation

By Staff, Agencies 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected a US claim that Iranian diplomats attending the United Nations General Assembly were expelled from the United States, saying all of the country’s diplomats left as scheduled.

“All Iranian diplomats who attended UNGA, except one who departed earlier, left as scheduled,” Araghchi said in a post on X on Sunday.

He further stated that taking pride in the “fake diplomat ‘expulsion’” was inappropriate for the head of any diplomatic corps, arguing that the claim “oozes of desperation and defeat.”

Araghchi also said the assertion was inconsistent with the United States’ obligations as the UN host nation.

On Saturday, Axios cited a US official who claimed that two members of Iran’s delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York were “kicked out” of the country earlier in the day, several days after they were asked to leave.

“Secretary Rubio means business. Two more members of the Iranian delegation were found still in New York long after the UN General Assembly had passed. They have now been kicked out of the country,” the unnamed official claimed.

It came days after Axios claimed that Rubio had determined Araghchi and his team had “overstayed their welcome” and told them on Monday to leave New York immediately after little progress in meetings between the Iranians and Qatari mediators.

In an X post on Thursday, the Iranian Mission to the UN in New York dismissed the claim, saying the Iranian delegation was already scheduled to leave Monday, and that Washington was notified of the schedule.