U.S. Bans Iran Diplomats From Costco, Buying Luxury Goods Without Permission
No Costco for you!
President Donald Trump’s administration has banned Iranian diplomats from shopping at wholesale club stores and purchasing luxury goods while in America for the UN General Assembly.
Newsweek reported that the Iranian diplomats love Costco because they can purchase items in bulk that they can’t buy in Iran.
The rule applies to Iranian diplomats who represent the country at the UN all year.
According to The Associated Press, the diplomats need permission from the State Department:
In notices to be published this week in the Federal Register, the department’s Office of Foreign Missions determined that diplomatic memberships in wholesale club stores as well as diplomats’ ability to buy items such as watches, furs, jewelry, handbags, wallets, perfumes, tobacco, alcohol and cars are a “benefit” requiring U.S. government approval.
However, the only country whose diplomats were specifically targeted is Iran. Stores like Costco have been a favorite of Iranian diplomats posted to and visiting New York because they are able to buy large quantities of products not available in their economically isolated country for relatively cheap prices and send them home.
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The determinations, which were posted online Monday and to be printed Tuesday, said Iranian diplomats and their dependents must “obtain approval from the Department of State prior to: obtaining or otherwise retaining membership at any wholesale club store in the United States, to include but not limited to Costco, Sam’s Club, or BJ’s Wholesale Club, and acquiring items from such wholesale club stores through any means.”
In addition, Iranian diplomats in the U.S. must also receive permission to purchase luxury items valued at more than $1,000 and vehicles valued at more that $60,000, said Clifton Seagroves, the head of the Office of Foreign Missions.
Those luxury items include everything, including fountain pens.
I had no idea those pens could be that expensive. I found one for $1,460!
Iranian nationals also cannot travel beyond a 25-mile radius of New York City.
That rule also applies to Belarus, China, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela.
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Comments
“ diplomats’ ability to buy items such as watches, furs, jewelry, handbags, wallets, perfumes, tobacco, alcohol and cars…”
Because the first thing a person who lives in a desert needs is a…
*checks notes*
A fur coat.
🙄🙄🙄
Having the UN headquarters in NYC may have seems like a good idea many moons ago but I’m good with it being moved to Haiti.
Yes, I would feel much better with the UN located offshore. It has always seemed to be a conflict of interest in locating it in a major city.
Offshore? How about the bottom of the Marianas Trench?
Iran has 4 seasons and a pretty diverse climate. They have cities which have sub freezing temps and snow in the winter.
Doesn’t the State Department have anything better to do? Cut the staff by another 25 percent?
Most of what they do actually harms American interests so this is an improvement.
The order should be expanded to include liquor stores and strip clubs. These Muzzies all claim that they follow Big Mo’s precepts on alcohol. Yeah, sure they do.
I would add the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Broadway, The Met etc….taunt them by letting them look at the New York cultural legacy from the outside without actually experiencing any of it.
They probably do. Their delegation no doubt includes several “political officers” who get gold stars for narcing on their fellow diplomats.
LOL!
I think they’d be better off letting them return home with all the luxury goods they want to buy.
The Iranian people wouldn’t be happy about that, and it might lead to something good.
It is a national humiliation to have their diplomats disrespected that much. Their leadership including the ambassadors will have those luxuries regardless this way we add national humiliation to the massive taunting of the Iranians by their leadership.
I’m trying to parse this, but nothin’ happens.
“diplomatic memberships in wholesale club stores … are a “benefit” requiring U.S. government approval.”
Sometimes Trump does stuff that is so off the wall outrageous that I have to wait for the White House “spin” to hit to see why anybody thought this was 1) constitutional 2) a great idea.
I remember when it used to be common practice to ensure that visiting communists got to visit common grocery stores so they would have their socks blown off by how the average American lived.
“I had no idea those pens could be that expensive.
I found one for $1,460!”
Tell me about it. I about plotzed when I read this headline:
You Won’t Believe These 3 Motorhomes Cost Less Than $275,000
The first paragraph informs us that the market is defined by “Class A diesel pushers that sell for upward of a million dollars.”
My mother advised me never to pay more than $25K for any house that didn’t have at least two bathrooms.
The Iranian diplomats can buy all the luxury goods they want in Geneva, London, Paris, or Toronto. I don’t see what the point of this exercise is.
They can get them cheaper here.
This story is very misleading. Headline says Iran and Costco. Then the story lists other wholesale box stores. It later says it’s aimed at Iran but the last sentence lists several other countries such as China.
I’m pretty sure the last sentence refers to a general travel restriction, not the shopping restriction.
It’s called “ragebait”. And we’ve been had. 😉
It’s funny… But the other day I was shopping in the Manhattan NY Walmart store and was surprised by the number of men wearing turbans and women wearing Hijabs, New demographics
Hart-Celler in action.
No you weren’t. There are no Walmarts anywhere in NYC, let alone in Manhattan. So this didn’t happen.
Shouldn’t the State Department have included goats? Asking for a friend. LOL
During General Assembly the big box and drugstores are very popular destinations for delegates from all over the world, especially poorer countries. It’s not just for the “luxury” items: They buy toiletries and OTC medicines to use or give/sell to others at home. If you’re in the NYC area, buy your toothpaste and aspirin before UNGA starts.
Not to worry; there are more than enough compliant leftist rump swabs that will buy the goods for the Iranians. Probably pay the taxes too.
Mamdani will likely have a special “government store” for the Iranian terrorists, um, I mean, “diplomats.”
get photos of them buyin gthe goods
post the pics allll over social medica drop leaflets if need be into Iran and especially socialist western europe to show their people how the upper crust lives while forcing the people to mingle with the haters