A senior official in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration planned to meet with Iran\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations before the State Department reportedly intervened, and the meeting was canceled.
\nCommissioner Ana Mar\u00eda Archila, leader of the Mamdani administration\u2019s Office of International Affairs, was scheduled to meet with Iran\u2019s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, Tuesday, the City Journal first reported.
\nA U.S. official familiar with the matter confirmed to Fox News Digital that the meeting had been scheduled.\u00a0
\nTRUMP SAYS HE\u2019S IRAN\u2019S \u2018NO. 1\u2019 TARGET AS RENEWED CONFLICT RAISES ASSASSINATION FEARS
\nThe reported intervention marks the second known instance in recent weeks in which the Trump administration has stepped in over the Mamdani administration\u2019s contacts with foreign leaders, highlighting growing federal scrutiny of New York City\u2019s international outreach under its new socialist mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Office for International Affairs coordinates closely with the State Department on many diplomatic matters because of New York City\u2019s role as host to the United Nations.\u00a0
\nOnce the State Department became aware of the planned meeting, it was called off and State Department officials met with Mamdani officials to clarify acceptable conduct, a State Department official told the City Journal.
\nThe Iranian mission declined to comment on the meeting to Fox News Digital. \u201cThat meeting did not take place, it will not take place and I did not know about it until there was a press inquiry regarding it,\u201d Mamdani said during a press conference on Friday.\u00a0
\nPressed on whether he supported such a meeting, he added: \u201cI\u2019ve said that that meeting will not be taking place. Thank you all very much.\u201d
\nA State Department official told Fox News Digital in a statement: \u201cWe appreciate the mayor understanding the value of diplomacy, and for his decision to cancel this meeting. It is unconscionable that a New York City official would even consider meeting with the Iranian Ambassador to the U.N., a man who consistently works to undermine U.S. interests and whitewash his regime\u2019s crimes against the United States, our allies, and Iran\u2019s own citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly said he is \u201cNo. 1\u201d on Iran\u2019s \u201ckill list,\u201d and Israel recently shared intelligence with the U.S. president about an Iranian plot to assassinate him, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
\nThe reported Iran meeting would mark the second known instance in recent weeks in which the Trump administration intervened over the Mamdani administration\u2019s contacts with foreign officials.
\nTRUMP SAYS IRAN CEASEFIRE IS \u2018OVER\u2019 AFTER IRANIAN ATTACKS TRIGGER MASSIVE US RESPONSE<\/p>\n
In June, the Washington Post reported that a planned meeting between Mamdani and Colombian President Gustavo Petro was scrapped after State Department objections. Fox News Digital has asked the State Department to confirm that account.
\nArchila, the official who planned to meet with the Iranian representative, served as the co-director of New York\u2019s progressive Working Families party prior to her appointment as commissioner. She had no prior diplomatic experience before taking the role, and in 2022 ran for lieutenant governor of New York.
\nArchila made headlines in 2018 when she confronted former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., outside a Senate elevator after he announced he would vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
\nShe identified herself as a sexual assault victim and asked him why he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh after hearing the account of Christine Blasey Ford, who claimed Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh denied the allegation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"