President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are set to converge on New York City for the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) this week, setting up what former White House officials describe as a "dramatic" diplomatic moment, with Tehran’s delegation effectively "captive" under U.S. restrictions amid heightened Middle East tensions. Pezeshkian, for one, is scheduled to address the assembly on Wednesday, and Iran's semi-official news agency, Mehr, reported Sunday, with Trump at the rostrum on Tuesday.
"The choreography here is going to make for a fairly dramatic moment," Theo Wold, former acting assistant attorney general and White House domestic policy adviser, told Fox News Digital. PUTIN, XI AND IRAN'S PEZESHKIAN DESCEND ON INDIA FOR HIGH-STAKES BRICS SUMMIT AMID ESCALATING GLOBAL TENSIONS "For the Iranians, the limitation is going to be that there's going to be less access to the international press and less ability for them to essentially poke the Trump administration in the eye," Wold added before noting that it is "pretty sensible to allow them to participate in the international forum and to discuss whatever issues they think are pertinent to their regime and then tell them to go home." The high-profile gathering also comes as Trump weighs renewed strikes on Iran amid the almost seven-month war. Tehran, meanwhile, has set seven conditions for talks with Washington, according to Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei.
Iran also warned on Sunday against any big new attack by the United States and its allies, saying it had information such a move was being prepared, reported. While the U.S. approved visas for Iran’s delegation earlier this week, including Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the State Department has placed strict limits on Iranian movements while in Manhattan. As the host country under a 1947 U.N. agreement, the United States generally must facilitate the entry and transit of foreign representatives traveling to U.N. headquarters, including officials from adversarial nations.
"While ordinary Iranians endure brutal repression, water and electricity shortages, and soaring inflation, the regime's officials want to go on shopping sprees in New York. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on X. UN WATCHDOG SLAMS POTENTIAL ELECTION OF IRAN TO PANEL WITH HUMAN RIGHTS SWAY: 'LUNATICS RUNNING THE ASYLUM' For Washington, Wold said the U.S. is not obligated to give them unrestricted access beyond diplomatic responsibilities.
"Here, the delegation will be restricted to their accommodation in New York City and the U.N. headquarters there in Manhattan," Wold clarified. He characterized the move by Washington as a way of telling the delegation it could participate in official discussions but not "go and buy a bunch of microwaves or a small car at Costco or a dealership in the greater New York area." "Some of the restrictions fully recognize that when Iran comes to New York for UNGA, really it's about them lining their pockets and going on shopping sprees to get household appliances and Rolex watches," Wold said. "They're not going to be going on shopping sprees.
They're certainly not going to be hitting up Michelin-starred restaurants in greater Manhattan. "They also go to Sam’s Club and Walmart and Costco. And that was one of the specific prohibitions issued by the State Department this week: to contact those big-box retailers that require a basic membership and say, ‘You’re not to transact or do any business with Iranians when they arrive, and you’re to notify us when they do.’" KUSHNER TOUTS UNPRECEDENTED IRAN CONTACTS AS TEHRAN DENIES TRUMP BACKCHANNEL Despite the restrictions, Wold said UNGA gives Washington the opportunity it has "wanted for quite some time to have a large enough audience, and a sort of captive Iranian delegation" to make some of the essential points for why the administration pursued the actions it did against the Iranian regime.
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