The Trump administration has barred Iranian diplomats in New York from shopping at wholesale clubs like Costco, Sam’s and BJ’s, invoking the Foreign Missions Act – a rare use of retail access as a diplomatic weapon, aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Tehran during the U.N. general assembly.
A new Federal Register notice bars Iranian government officials traveling for U.N. purposes, along with their dependents, from joining or shopping at wholesale clubs without prior State Department approval.
In addition, the notice requires approval before Iranian officials can acquire luxury items ranging from leather goods and perfumes valued over $1,000 to vehicles priced above $60,000.
The notice warns that businesses or individuals that help Iranian diplomats access the items could land them in legal trouble.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio further clamped down on Iranian diplomats’ movements, limiting them strictly to the routes needed to travel to and from U.N. headquarters, framing the restriction as a matter of U.S. national security.
Under the Foreign Missions Act, the U.S. Secretary of State wields the authority to impose restrictions on foreign government officials in the U.S. to protect American interest or national security. These travel limits often target government officials from Belarus, China, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Iran. Typically, the restrictions confine visiting diplomats and officials to a 25-mile radius of Columbus Circle in Manhattan or the White House in Washington, D.C.
During President Donald Trump’s U.N. address Tuesday, he insisted Iran must never possess nuclear weapons, mentioning a letter he had sent shortly after taking office offering “full cooperation” in exchange for Tehran ending its nuclear program. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected the overture in a televised speech, dismissing U.S. terms as “dictation, not negotiation.” He closed with a sharp rebuke: Trump’s demand to halt uranium enrichment was an insult that earned him a “slap in the mouth” from the Iranian people, according to Iran International.
“We will not allow the Iranian regime to allow its clerical elites to have a shopping spree in the United States while they force their own people in Iran to endure poverty and dire shortages of basic needs,” said Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State Thomas Pigott on X.