Rubio ordered Iranians out of US as negotiations stalled

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the Iranian delegation to leave the U.S. immediately Monday after the United Nations General Assembly as negotiations between both countries have stalled.

The Hill’s broadcast partner NewsNation on Thursday confirmed this with the State Department, which previously approved visas for the “core” Iranian delegation to the U.N. last month.

Rubio lost patience with the Iranian officials Monday and said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation should immediately leave, The Associated Press reported , citing two officials familiar with the order.

One official told the outlet that Rubio determined that the delegates “overstayed their welcome” and should depart given high-level meetings have concluded.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian left New York City the day after he spoke before the U.N. General Assembly last week, but Araghchi stayed behind for indirect talks with the U.S., the AP reported. He planned to stay in the Big Apple until Wednesday.

Araghchi and his team left very early Tuesday, but the delegation denied being ordered to leave.

“The Iranian delegation left New York on Monday evening, in accordance with the schedule that had also been communicated to the U.S. Department of State in advance on September 17,” the delegation stated on the social platform X . “Having achieved nothing, the State Department has resorted to propagating baseless and worthless news.”

The U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran stretched to its seven-month mark Monday, with both countries negotiating through intermediaries. Pezeshkian and President Trump have said they are looking for a deal, although the U.S. president rejected a peace proposal from Iran that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and enact a ceasefire.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said Wednesday that negotiators received an official U.S. response to the proposal, though no other details were offered.

Critics in the U.S. against the regime have accused it of dragging out the conflict and talks with the U.S. to have it hamper Trump’s policies toward Iran after the midterms. An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, earlier this week urged American voters to rally against Trump so as to change U.S. policy toward Tehran.

“Although American politicians often win your votes through deception and false promises, as Trump did, you can change the makeup of the government if you apply the criteria for good leadership in choosing the people you vote into office,” Mohebbi said in a letter to voters obtained by The Times of Israel .

The conflict’s unpopularity, with its effect on rising prices and the soaring cost of gasoline and diesel , has put pressure on GOP campaigns where Republicans are seeking to distance themselves from the president and calling for the war to end, as well as requesting that the U.S. lift its naval blockade off Iranian ports.

Some of those supporting the administration’s efforts against the regime have said that Iran is looking to drag out talks with the U.S. to damage Trump politically .