South America

Colombia Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Iran, Designates Revolutionary Guard a Terrorist Group

Published Sep 24, 2026

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of an earlier September 8, 2026 signing ceremony in Barranquilla, where Colombian President Abelardo De la Espriella and Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar hosted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with officials signing documents at an ornate carved desk on a red carpet before Colombian and U.S. flags; archival context, not the September 24 announcement on Iran, rendered in warm ochre and slate-blue pastel strokes.

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced on September 24 that the government had formally broken diplomatic relations with Iran as of September 19, calling it a sovereign decision based on national and hemispheric security. The ministry cited alleged links between Iran’s government and terrorist and narco-terrorist groups, human rights violations in Iran, attacks on countries not party to the Middle East conflict, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and obstruction of IAEA verification work. Consular relations were not broken. The government also declared Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group and said it would tighten controls to stop people linked to it from entering Colombia.

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