US Visa Denial to Iran’s UN Envoy Violates Int’l Norms: MP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker censured the US for denying Iran’s proposed ambassador to the UN a visa, saying Washington’s unusual move contradicts the international regulations.
The Islamic Republic has proposed Hamid Abutalebi as its newly-appointed ambassador to the United Nations. But the US, the UN headquarters host country, has opposed to his nomination.
On April 8, the US Senate voted to bar Abutalebi from the US and the White House said he will not be welcomed in the country, describing his nomination as “not viable”. The House of Representatives unanimously passed the same legislation on April 10.
And in the latest development, US President Barack Obama approved the unusual legislation that had already been passed by the US Congress.
Reacting to the US obstructionism, Javad Karimi Qoddousi, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, said Washington seeks to isolate Iran in the international arena through such inimical moves.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Sunday, the lawmaker explained that the White House tries to define “new standards for the international relations” and impose its norms on the other countries.
Qoddousi added that Americans have crossed the redlines of the international relations by making such decision, stressing that they have no right to interfere in the issues pertaining to the United Nations.
Under a 1947 law that established the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, the United States is obligated to issue visas to diplomats assigned there, even those it finds objectionable.
