Two U.N. Workers To Be Expelled

June 27 -- Two men who work in New York for Iran's mission to the United Nations are being expelled from the United States, ABCNEWS has learned.

Sources told ABCNEWS that the two Iranians were seen five days ago videotaping the Brooklyn Bridge, the entrance to the tunnels into Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The men, who have been in the United States only four months and are described as security workers for the mission, were stopped and questioned by New York police, sources said, but were not arrested because of their diplomatic immunity.

U.S. officials plan to expel the men for suspicious activities, some of which are related to irregularities in their identification documents, sources said.

A spokesman for the Iranian consulate in New York told ABCNEWS that two individuals were filming each other at Battery Park City and were briefly questioned by a New York police officer and released. The spokesman says neither person has been expelled, nor has the consulate received word from the U.S. government or any other authority that there is a plan to expel the two men.

Details of concerns surrounding the two Iranians come ahead of a nationwide tightening of security as the July Fourth holiday approaches. Officials told ABCNEWS the Pentagon is preparing to dramatically increase its combat air patrols over about a dozen U.S. cities during the holiday week.

The Bush administration had scaled back on combat air patrols in recent months because of expense and the toll it was taking on the planes and the pilots. Officials said the increased patrols next week is not in response to a new threat but rather a precaution for any unknown threats.