US quietly expelled Iran’s deputy UN envoy in December, report says

ISTANBUL

The United States expelled Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations in December over national security concerns, according to a report by Axios on Friday citing US and informed sources.

The diplomat, Saadat Aghajani, was asked in early December to leave the country after the State Department sent a formal notice to Iran’s UN mission in New York.

The request was made under “section 13 procedures,” an internal mechanism used to arrange a diplomat’s departure without formally declaring them persona non grata.

Such procedures are typically used in cases involving national security concerns or activities deemed inconsistent with diplomatic status, though no specific allegations against Aghajani were made public.

A US official said Aghajani’s children, who remained in New York after his departure, were also asked to leave the country in February.

Axios reported that at least two other Iranian diplomats at the mission were expelled in the two months before Aghajani’s departure.

In September, US authorities restricted Iranian diplomats’ travel to a 25-mile radius around central Manhattan. At least one of the expelled diplomats had violated those limits multiple times, according to a US official.

The action was not disclosed at the time and was one of at least three expulsions of Iranian diplomats in New York over a six-month period, the report said.

“We can confirm that the US delivered a Note Verbale on December 4 regarding the status of certain Iranian personnel at the UN. For privacy and security reasons, we do not comment on the specifics of diplomatic personnel actions,” a State Department official said.

The official added that the move took place “well before the protests in Iran” and was unrelated to those events.