WASHINGTON — Several Iranian diplomats posted at the United Nations have been expelled from the US in the past six months, according to a State Department official.
“We can confirm that the United States delivered a Note Verbale on December 4 regarding the status of certain Iranian personnel at the UN,” the official said. “For privacy and security reasons, we do not comment on the specifics of diplomatic personnel actions.”
“This action occurred well before the protests in Iran and is unrelated to those events,” the official added.
Several Iranian diplomats have been expelled from the US in the past six months, according to a State Department official. Getty Images
“We can confirm that the United States delivered a Note Verbale on December 4 regarding the status of certain Iranian personnel at the UN,” the official said. Google MapsIran’s deputy ambassador Saadat Aghajani was told to depart in December, and two other members of the Iranian Mission to the UN were asked to leave the country two months before, Axios reported Friday.
The Iranian deputy ambassador was removed under what’s known as “section 13 procedures,” which allows for removal for national security reasons or alleged espionage efforts against the US.
Aghajani’s children were also later forced to exit.
Diplomats from Tehran have been limited in their movements outside the mission to within a 25-mile radius of the UN headquarters in midtown Manhattan.
A bridge struck by US airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, on Friday, April 3, 2026. APTensions between the US and Iran mounted before the start of the war in a joint bombing campaign from American and Israeli forces on Feb. 28.
“President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said during a Security Council meeting in January.
At the time, Iranian government forces were engaged in a bloody crackdown on anti-regime protesters, leading to the killing of tens of thousands of their own citizens.
A man stands near the B1 bridge damaged by a strike, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Karaj, Iran, on April 3, 2026. via REUTERSWaltz said Trump in response had “made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter, and no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.”
The confrontation over Iran targeting protesters in Tehran came as the US and the regime were seeking a revamped deal to rein in the Middle East nation’s nuclear ambitions.
With the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the US began bombing Iran’s missile and drone infrastructure as well as its naval fleet — while calling for Tehran officials to abandon their nuclear program.
