Iranian delegation leaves New York amid disputed accounts

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation left New York early Tuesday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly ordered them to depart, but Iran’s U.N. mission said the trip ended according to a schedule arranged in advance. The competing accounts leave unresolved whether the departure was an expulsion or a planned return. Two U.S. officials told the Associated Press that Rubio directed Araghchi and the delegation to leave earlier than they had planned. A U.S. official separately confirmed to Anadolu that Rubio ordered the departure. That account said the U.S. mission to the United Nations informed Iran’s mission on Monday evening that the delegation had to leave New York immediately. Iran’s U.N. mission said the delegation left Monday evening according to a schedule it said had been communicated to the State Department on September 17. It rejected reports that the group had been expelled. The supplied accounts do not independently verify the advance communication or establish whether an order changed the travel plan. The reports differ on Araghchi’s intended departure date.