Earlier this month, the State Department had to stop members of Mamdani’s administration from meeting with Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., with congressional Republicans now imploring the Justice Department to investigate them and the mayor for possible violations of the Logan Act.

Mamdani “is testing the limits of his influence,” according to Democratic strategist Christopher Hahn.

“Like others before him, he will learn that while New York City may be the capital of the world, foreign policy is not part of the job and his reach will be limited,” Hahn told the Washington Examiner.

A former Democratic national security official added that “a mayor trying to drive foreign policy like this is not always welcome for an administration and can cause real headaches.

“He has been interested in both changing the terms of the political debate and affecting the policy discussion since he first came on the scene,” the source told the Washington Examiner of Mamdani.

To that end, during an interview with the New York Times last weekend, Mamdani described Netanyahu’s arrest as “an active conversation” in his legal department, though he promised not to write “our own laws.”

Mamdani indicated his openness to deploy the New York Police Department to enforce ICC arrest warrants on the campaign trail last year. The mayor’s options, however, are also limited, in part, because the U.S. does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.

In fact, federal law makes it illegal for local governments to cooperate with the ICC, complementing separate legislation that protects foreign officials from imprisonment and obstruction, in addition to providing immunity.

Regardless of the law, Trump expressed his support for Netanyahu on social media on Monday, underscoring that the prime minister would “not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form” while in the U.S.

“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others,” Trump wrote of Netanyahu. “The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s office criticized Mamdani for using the prime minister to “[divert] public attention from his follies” and for “attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Former Trump administration official Richard Goldberg, who is now a senior adviser for Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that the “average New Yorker just trying to make a living, concerned about kitchen table issues” is likely wondering “why Mamdani was acting like some U.N. clown instead of the mayor of America’s largest city.”

“The U.N. and a Democratic primary are probably the only places Mamdani would do well by viciously attacking Israel and cozying up to Iran,” Goldberg told the Washington Examiner.

Meanwhile, Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill are urging a federal inquiry of a senior Mamdani official’s attempt to liaise with a member of the Iranian regime.

Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC) is specifically calling for the Justice Department to investigate Mamdani’s commissioner for international affairs, Ana Maria Archilak, for attempting to schedule a meeting with the Iranian ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, this month.

McDowell and more than a dozen GOP lawmakers are urging acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate whether the mayor or his staff violated the Logan Act. The law makes it illegal for unauthorized Americans to negotiate with foreign governments involved in disputes with the U.S.

“I find it interesting how much time Mamdani worries about the International Criminal Court,” McDowell told the Washington Examiner. “The ICC laws are not America’s laws.”

McDowell simultaneously contended that “it’s not surprising” because Mamdani is “the new face of America’s Left, which cares more about so-called international law than enforcing our laws here at home.

“Mayor Mamdani should worry less about Israel’s prime minister and more about making sure New York City’s tax base doesn’t flee,” he said.

Mamdani told reporters last week that he did not know about Archilak’s plans regarding the meeting until his office received a press inquiry about it and that it was scheduled for July 7 in reaction to a request from Iran, rather than his administration asking for it.

TRUMP VOWS IRAN WILL ‘PAY’ FOR KILLING US TROOPS. WHAT COMES NEXT?

“I’ve said that that meeting will not be taking place,” the mayor said during a press conference last Friday. “Thank you all very much.”

The Washington Post similarly reported in June that the State Department had to prevent an earlier meeting between Mamdani and Colombian President Gustavo Petro.