President Trump will not expel an Iranian diplomat in New York who pledged repeatedly that the regime would take “revenge” for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, according to analysts and officials.
“I don’t see us taking that kind of action,” Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican who is close to President Trump, told the Washington Examiner.
Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, maintained that Tehran would “have to take revenge” for the U.S. airstrike targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander. His position allows him to play a high-profile role in New York City; Iran has no other ambassador in the country, as the United States and the regime cut diplomatic ties decades ago.
Takht-Ravanchi declared in multiple interviews that Iran would be compelled to seek revenge, while also maintaining that the regime does not want conflict.
Meadows cited the “revenge” comments as a sign of Iran’s commitment to terrorism. “They’re the number one state sponsor of terrorism and so we need to see their comments for what they are, which is a provocation by a country that keeps in power by making greater enemies versus greater allies,” the lawmaker said.
“It’s a radical Shia Islamist revolutionary movement masquerading as a country,” said Bradley Bowman, a senior foreign policy expert at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “If you accept that fact, then when you get statements like that from their ambassador to the UN then it starts to make sense.”
Bowman, a former adviser to a Senate Republican tasked with overseeing U.S. relations with the United Nations and other multilateral organizations, nonetheless shared Meadows’ skepticism about booting the envoy.
“We have to be careful to make sure that we provide countries, even countries that are adversaries or enemies, access to the UN,” he said. “If ambassadors can’t get to the UN. then there are going to [be]calls to move it elsewhere. And I think having it in the U.S. is to our advantage.”
Many of the nation’s rivals, adversaries, and enemies have diplomatic officials stationed here, “coming and going” to and from the United Nations, Bowman told the Washington Examiner.
Expulsions of UN diplomats are rare, but not unheard of. President Trump also expelled two Cuban diplomats from New York for “attempts to conduct influence operations against the United States” in September. “We will always comply with our obligations under the UN requirements and the Headquarters Agreement,” Pompeo told reporters this week.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo restricted the access of other Iranian officials to the United Nations this week, as Foreign Minister Javad Zarif announced that he was denied a visa to travel to the country.
