MPs Seek Suing US for Denying Visa to Iran’s UN Envoy Pick
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker said the government must sue the US for its decision to deny a visa to Hamid Abutalebi, Iran’s newly-appointed ambassador to the United Nation.
Mohammad Hassan Asafari, member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told the Tasnim News Agency that if the government fails to take legal action against the US government case in ten days, the parliament will consider questioning the foreign ministry.
Last week, the White House said the new Iranian ambassador to the UN will not be welcomed in the US, and described his nomination as “not viable”.
Washington has decided to deny a visa to Abutalebi over his possible involvement in the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran during post-revolution incidents in 1979.
Asafari described Washington’s move as "running counter to the US commitment under its host country agreement with the United Nations".
Washington made a commitment to the United Nations in 1947 to provide unimpeded entry to UN headquarters in New York to the diplomats that UN member states choose to assign there.
The Iranian MP said it is not the first time the Americans make such a move, noting that Washington had refused entry to the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) envoy to the UN, but the PLO took legal action which led to a court ruling against Washington’s decision.
Asafari reiterated that Iran’s diplomatic apparatus must also sue the US government and seriously pursue the case until the appointed envoy is granted a visa.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the lawmaker referred to the talks between Iran and the sextet of world powers over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program, saying that while the two sides need to show their goodwill, the US visa denial would deepen the Iranian nation’s distrust and negatively impact the negotiations.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) wrapped up the latest round of their nuclear talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna on April 9.
The two sides are slated to convene the next meeting on May 13, again in Vienna, to start drafting the text of a final, long-awaited deal on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.