The Trump administration has imposed new restrictions on Iranian diplomats in the United States, barring them from shopping at wholesale club stores such as Costco and from purchasing luxury goods without prior approval from the State Department.
In a statement reported by the Associated Press, the department said:
“We will not allow the Iranian regime to permit its clerical elites to go on shopping sprees in New York while the Iranian people face poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and severe shortages of water and electricity.”
According to notices set to appear in the Federal Register, the State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions has classified memberships to wholesale clubs and the purchase of high-end items—including watches, jewelry, furs, designer handbags, perfumes, alcohol, tobacco, and automobiles—as diplomatic “benefits” that now require formal authorization from the U.S. government. While the policy could, in theory, apply to all foreign diplomats, Iran is the only country explicitly named in the directive.
Stores like Costco have been popular among Iranian diplomats stationed in or visiting New York, allowing them to buy large quantities of goods—often unavailable or prohibitively expensive in Iran—at lower prices and send them back home.
By tightening these regulations, the administration says it is aiming to close loopholes that allow Iranian officials to access consumer goods out of reach for ordinary Iranians.
“By preventing Iranian regime officials from exploiting diplomatic travel to the UN as a means to obtain goods unavailable to the Iranian public, we are sending a clear message: When the United States says it stands with the people of Iran, we mean it,” the department stated.
The new rules are part of a broader strategy of diplomatic pressure under the Trump administration, including stricter visa policies affecting Iranian officials attending United Nations functions. Though announced during the annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York, the new restrictions apply year-round to all Iranian representatives to the UN and their families.
The regulations, posted online Monday and scheduled to be printed Tuesday, specify that Iranian diplomats and their dependents must seek State Department approval before obtaining or maintaining memberships at wholesale stores such as Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s Wholesale Club. They must also receive permission to purchase luxury items valued over $1,000 or vehicles worth more than $60,000, according to Clifton Seagroves, the acting head of the Office of Foreign Missions.