Iran takes up visa denial row with US at UN
Iran has accused the United States of abusing its position as the host of the United Nations by denying a visa to the Islamic Republic's deputy foreign minister, according to a letter released on Friday
United Nations: Iran has accused the United States of abusing its position as the host of the United Nations by denying a visa to the Islamic Republic's deputy foreign minister, according to a letter released on Friday.
Iran's letter to the UN Committee on Relations with the Host Country said deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Mohammad Mahdi Akhondzadeh Basti was repeatedly denied a visa by US authorities.
In the letter, Iran's UN ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said Washington's refusal to issue an entry visa to Tehran's top official overseeing its relations with the United Nations kept him from attending events like the review conference held from May 3 to 28 on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, where Iran's atomic programme is a key topic of discussion.
Political pressure alleged
Khazaee said US authorities were misusing the country's status as the seat of the United Nations headquarters "as political leverage to advance their political agenda against certain countries".
He said it was "nothing short of calculated political intimidation and pressure" which he said "impairs the very foundations of multilateral diplomacy".
In Washington, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley declined to comment on Akhondzadeh Basti's visa. "Visa decisions are confidential," he said.
Akhondzadeh Basti previously headed Iran's diplomatic missions to Pakistan, Germany and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
Washington issued Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a visa to attend the opening of the nuclear arms treaty review conference earlier this month.
