The United States on Tuesday announced it has decided to withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the cultural arm of the United Nations.

Announcing the decision,  State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement: " Today, the United States announced our decision to withdraw from UNESCO."

"Like many UN organizations, UNESCO strayed from its founding mission. Going forward, U.S. participation in international organizations must make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous," she said.

The decision was announced just two years after the US rejoined UNESCO after leaving in 2018.

The US had initially left UNESCO during Trump's first stint as President.

In a separate statement, Bruce said: "UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy."

She said Director-General Audrey Azoulay has been informed about the United States’ decision to withdraw from UNESCO.

"Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States," Bruce said.