Rubio Tells Iran's Diplomats the Party Is Over, and Tehran Says It Was Leaving Anyway

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iran's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi included, to leave New York on Monday evening after indirect talks to end the war went nowhere, Axios reported, citing a U.S. official.

The official did not dress it up. "Secretary Rubio kicked out the Iranian delegation who had overstayed their welcome," the official told Axios. "The UN General Assembly was over, so it was time for them to go."

Tehran tells it differently, and the State Department has not put its name to the account in any coverage reviewed for this story. What is not in dispute is the result: the Iranians are gone, the talks are stuck, and Washington spent the rest of the week adding pressure rather than easing it.

How Monday unfolded

According to the Axios account as relayed by the Jerusalem Post, the White House began Monday thinking the day might bring progress. By late afternoon it had concluded the negotiations were at a stalemate. That evening, on Rubio's orders, the U.S. mission to the U.N. told Iran's mission that Araghchi's team had to leave immediately. The delegation boarded a flight from New York to Doha at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Qatar has been carrying messages between the two sides. Newsmax reported that the sticking points are Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. naval blockade and the Strait of Hormuz, in a war that began Feb. 28 and is now in its eighth month.

Fox News said a U.S. official confirmed to it that Rubio told the Iranians to go. That is a second outlet with an unnamed official, which is more than one and less than a statement from the podium.

Iran says it left on schedule

Iran's U.N. mission denies anyone was thrown out. In its version, reported by The National and others, the delegation left Monday evening on a timetable it had given the State Department on Sept. 17.

The two stories are not entirely at odds. The Jerusalem Post noted that a second source in the Axios report said Araghchi was already due to travel home Monday night. A diplomat can have a ticket for Monday and still be told on Monday to use it. Whether Rubio's order changed the hour of departure or only the tone of it is something neither side has documented in public.

For readers who remember years of Iranian envoys treating Manhattan as a comfortable place to run out the clock, the tone is the news. Foreign delegations are in New York for U.N. business by American permission, and this administration is signaling that the permission ends when the business does.

The pressure keeps building

The diplomatic cold shoulder came with company. On Thursday the Treasury Department sanctioned Iran's two largest automakers, Iran Khodro and SAIPA, along with the national railway company and other rail firms, the Jerusalem Post reported in a separate story. Treasury says the two carmakers account for more than 90 percent of Iran's domestic auto market. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action "directly targets Iran's enablers."

President Trump, asked whether he would ramp up bombing after the midterms, gave a one-word answer, according to Fox News: "Possible." He added, "We have a lot of weapons. You know, we've been stocking up for the last six months."

The Jerusalem Post's live coverage also reported that the United States is deploying a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East. The Pentagon's timeline is not clear from the coverage reviewed here.

What happens next

Qatar remains the channel, and nothing reviewed here says either side has closed it. The open questions are whether Tehran returns with an offer Washington can accept before the Nov. 3 midterms, and whether the administration ever confirms on the record what its officials are saying privately about Monday night. Until then, the American position is being stated in sanctions and ship movements, which tend to be read clearly in Tehran.