Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded that Iran's U.N. General Assembly delegation leave the country on Monday, Axios reports, citing a U.S. official and a second source with knowledge of the matter.
The delegation included Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Rubio's counterpart. Axios says the order came after negotiations stalled, and calls it a "highly unusual diplomatic rebuke." Axios also notes the Iranians were likely to leave soon anyway.
Secretary Rubio kicked out the Iranian delegation who had overstayed their welcome.
That is the U.S. official's framing to Axios, who added that the General Assembly was over and "it was time for them to go."
Developing, disputed: Iran denies it was expelled. The timing of the departure is also contested.
Axios's account of Monday runs like this. In the morning, the White House thought talks might progress later in the day. By late afternoon, negotiations were at a stalemate. That evening, at Rubio's orders, the U.S. mission to the U.N. told the Iranian mission that Araghchi's delegation had to leave New York immediately, per the U.S. official. The delegation headed to the airport several hours later and boarded a flight to Doha at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday.
The second source confirmed the U.S. demanded the delegation leave. That source said Araghchi was scheduled to travel to Tehran on Monday night anyway.
Iran's U.N. mission rejects the story. According to the Emirati newspaper The National, its statement says the delegation left New York on Monday evening "in accordance with the schedule that had also been communicated to the US Department of State in advance on September 17." It adds: "Having achieved nothing, the State Department has resorted to promoting baseless reports." Iran's state-run news agency IRNA also denied the report.
Breitbart, the right-leaning outlet that amplified the Axios scoop on Thursday, adds some background. It says informal talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly went nowhere. Araghchi publicly proposed that the White House end the blockade of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Breitbart says President Donald Trump told reporters he was not interested. Trump suggested the Iranians were "desperate" to end the blockade. Axios says Qatari mediators made little progress, with neither side willing to budge.
So you have two versions of one Monday night. One says the U.S. threw out Iran's top diplomat. The other says he was already packed. Both agree he left.
Axios says Qatari mediators are still talking to both sides about their compromise proposal. Asked Wednesday how he can reach a deal with a regime he calls crazy, Trump told reporters: "Maybe I blow 'em up. We have to make that decision. We will blow 'em up or make a deal. But the time is coming. It's gonna end very soon one way or the other."