UN General Assembly Ends... Were Iranian Delegation Expelled or Did They Leave Voluntarily?

▲ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during a press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York on the 25th (local time).

Contlicting claims are emerging from the United States and Iran regarding the schedule of Iranian diplomats who visited the U.S., a wartime adversary, to attend the UN General Assembly in New York last month.

While U.S. State Department officials claimed that some of these Iranian diplomats stayed for several days despite orders to leave and were "expelled," Iran countered that they departed according to a previously notified schedule.

According to the U.S. political media outlet Axios on the 3rd (local time), an anonymous U.S. government official stated, "It was revealed that two members of the Iranian delegation were still in New York long after the UN General Assembly closed. They have now been expelled from the United States."

The official added, "Secretary of State Marco Rubio has a firm stance on this matter."

AFP also reported that a State Department official stated the Iranian delegation members were "expelled."

According to Axios, the U.S. government, aware that two Iranian diplomats remained in New York despite demands to leave, notified the Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations on the 2nd of this month that they must depart immediately.

A U.S. government official explained that the two Iranian diplomats subsequently departed on the night of the 2nd and the morning of the 3rd, respectively.

This response supports the claim that because the Iranian delegation stayed in New York for several days after the UN General Assembly concluded on the 28th of last month and resisted U.S. demands to leave, they were ultimately forced out.

Previously on the 30th of last month, Axios reported that Secretary Rubio demanded that the Iranian delegation, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, leave immediately on the 28th of last month, and that hours later, members of the Iranian delegation headed to the airport and left New York on a Doha-bound flight departing at around 1:20 a.m. on the 29th.

At the time, Axios reported that the U.S. government had initially hoped for progress in bilateral negotiations prompted by the visit of the delegation, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Araghchi, to the U.S. for the UN General Assembly, but demanded their departure after no progress was made.

However, regarding the September 30 report by Axios, the Iranian Mission to the UN refuted the claim that the delegation's departure was due to Secretary Rubio's demand, calling it baseless and a misreport, stating that it was "according to the schedule already notified to the U.S. State Department on September 17."

U.S. and Iranian officials met and held talks for about three hours in New York on September 22 during the UN General Assembly.

Subsequently, U.S. President Donald Trump told U.S. media on September 26 that he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz delivered through Qatari mediation, while expecting talks to resume within days.

Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported that there are no scheduled further direct talks between Iran and the United States.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

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