Speaking to Iranian reporters in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Wednesday, Zarif denounced the move as “unacceptable” and said that Iran will pursue the issue through diplomatic channels at the UN.
He also said that Abutalebi is a veteran and experienced diplomat who has served as Iran’s envoy to several European countries.
Zarif made the remarks after the US Senate passed a legislation seeking to bar Abutalebi from entering the US.
On Tuesday, 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.
On November 4, 1979, and in less than a year after the victory of the Islamic Revolution that toppled a US-backed monarchy, Iranian university students that called themselves "students following the line of (the late) Imam (Khomeini)" seized the US embassy in Tehran.
The students justified the takeover by insisting that the compound had become a center of espionage and planning to overthrow the newly established Islamic system in Iran.
The students occupying the embassy later published documents proving that the compound was indeed engaged in plans and measures to overthrow the Islamic system.