US will allow ‘core’ Iranian delegation join United Nations summit in New York

The Trump administration will allow a “core delegation” of Iranian leadership to attend the high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York City, a State Department spokesman said Thursday, even as the U.S. and Iran remain at war and negotiations have stalled.

The State Department is granting visas for the delegation in line with host-country obligations, the spokesman said, but the visiting Iranians will be under travel restrictions and “face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods per our policy.”

The spokesman added, “The delegation is smaller than last year.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will be granted visas, Reuters reported . The United Nations high-level week will take place between Sept. 18 and 28.

The Hill reached out to Iran’s mission to the United Nations for comment.

The Trump administration had imposed similar movement restrictions on the Iranian delegation during the U.N. high-level week in 2025, in part to “maximize pressure,” accusing Iranian leadership of exploiting access to luxury goods and services while the country suffered under sanctions and economic mismanagement.

This year’s U.N. summit takes place more than six months since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran that has effectively shut down transit in the Strait of Hormuz, sending global energy prices soaring, and drawing regional countries into the conflict.

Trump is expected to hold talks with Gulf leaders while in New York, to discuss the next steps on the war with Iran, Axios reported. The president further teased a “big decision” related to the war.

“I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me,” he told Axios .