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State Dept booted Iran deputy ambassador to UN after he left designated area, 2 others expelled
The State Department expelled Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations last December after he left a designated area, a Middle Eastern source told Fox News Digital.
Axios first reported Friday that deputy ambassador Saadat Aghajani was asked to immediately depart the U.S. in December, but the expulsion was kept quiet at the time.
A Middle Eastern source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital the incident dates back several months, citing reporting that the deputy ambassador left a designated area and noting that two other members of the delegation of the mission were also expelled.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations told Fox News Digital it had “no comment.”
A State Department official confirmed to Fox News Digital that the United States delivered a Note Verbale on Dec. 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,” the official said, adding, “This action occurred well before the protests in Iran and is unrelated to those events.”
According to Axios, Aghajani was asked to leave the U.S. under “section 13 procedures,” which is an internal process at the State Department to process a quiet expulsion. At least two other junior Iranian diplomats had been expelled in the two months before Aghajani.
The State Department in September had restricted the movements of Iranian diplomats at the UN mission to a 25 mile-radius from central Manhattan, Axios reported.
Aghajani’s children, who had stayed in New York after their father departed were also asked to leave the U.S. in February, a U.S. official told Axios.
Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter contributed to this report
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