The United States will issue visas to Iran’s president and foreign minister, who are due to attend next week’s United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting in New York, a State Department spokesperson said on Thursday, despite the fact that the two countries are engaged in an unresolved conflict.
The spokesperson noted that the “core delegation from the Iranian regime,” including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, would be allowed to enter the United States “as the host nation of the UN headquarters is required to by the 1947 headquarters agreement,” with the exception of cases where the US “deems it necessary to refuse entry on grounds of national security or other foreign policy considerations.”
Officials added that the size of the Iranian delegation would be “smaller than in previous years” and its members would face “additional travel restrictions, including limitations on their movements around the New York area and a ban on buying luxury items.”
The decision comes as the conflict between Washington and Tehran, which erupted after the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in February, shows no signs of resolution, with sporadic talks between the two countries about ending the war so far failing to yield any results. In response to the attack on its nuclear sites, Iran launched an attack on Israel and the Gulf states, which host American military bases.
The decision to permit the Iranian officials to enter the US was made after the State Department announced one day earlier that it would deny visas to Palestinian officials for the same meetings, due to “efforts to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” including “bringing cases against Israel before international tribunals.”
