Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in New York on Monday, September 21, to lead Iran’s diplomatic delegation at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Araghchi is the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the United States since the war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, according to Arab News and the Indian Express. He left Iran on Sunday evening with a stopover in Qatar and spoke by phone with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, according to Iranian state television. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X that the minister heads “a diplomatic delegation” at the assembly. Before departing, Araghchi told Iranian journalists his main objective is to use the platform to defend “the legitimacy, rights and interests of the Iranian people.” President Masoud Pezeshkian, due to address the assembly on Wednesday, September 23, left Tehran on Tuesday morning, according to the Mehr news agency; Iranian state media had reported that Washington refused visas to members of the delegation, including its communications team.