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Iran Sues US for Denying Envoy Hamid Aboutalebi Visa to Come to UN in New York

April 14, 2014




Spokeswoman: Iran Planning to Sue US for Blocking Envoy's Trip to UN

Monday, April 14, 2014 11:3 FM

TEHRAN (FNA)-

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham announced that Tehran plans to lodge a compliant with the international bodies against the US for barring the mission of the new Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations.

"The official mechanisms for following up the complaint have been activated and we are going to follow up the case," Afkham said on Sunday.

She underlined that the US attempt in not issuing visa for Aboutalebi is violating the international law and it is against an agreement between the UN and the US government.

The Iranian parliament has given a 10-day ultimatum to the government to file a lawsuit against the US at competent international bodies over Washington's refusal to issue an entry visa for Tehran's new ambassador to the United Nations in New York, a prominent legislator announced on Sunday.

Last Monday, the US Senate passed a measure by a voice vote that would bar Hamid Aboutalebi from entering the United States for his alleged involvement in the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran during post-revolution incidents in 1979. Then on Tuesday night, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Washington has informed Tehran that its new ambassador to the UN will not be welcomed to the US.

The US hostile move which has come against the backdrop of improved relations between Iran and the US, specially since a breakthrough deal which has soothed the Iran-West nuclear standoff, has received tough reactions in Tehran.

"The government should follow up this issue and file a lawsuit against the US," member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Hassan Asafari told FNA today.

According to Asafari, the Iranian lawmakers have reiterated that the US administration should also be accountable for the US Senate move.

On Thursday, Afkham deplored Washington's position on Aboutalebi as "unacceptable".

"The US government’s treatment of the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to the UN is unacceptable and Dr. Hamid Aboutalebi is Iran’s choice for the UN representative post,” Afkham said.

She pointed to Aboutalebi’s diplomatic experience as Iran’s envoy in Italy, Belgium and Australia, and said, "The veteran Iranian diplomat had received a US visa to visit the UN in the 1990s."

On Tuesday, Carney said Iran’s new pick for the post is “not viable".

On Saturday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi said that Tehran remains insistent on its pick for the post of ambassador to the UN.

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian university students took over the US Embassy in Tehran, which they believed had turned into a “den of espionage.” Documents found at the compound later corroborated the claims by the students.

Iran lodges complaint against United States over U.N. envoy ban: IRNA

DUBAI Mon Apr 14, 2014 7:11am EDT

(Reuters) -

Iran has complained to the United Nations about the United States refusing to grant a visa to its newly appointed U.N. ambassador over his role in the 1979 hostage crisis, state news agency IRNA said on Sunday.

Hamid Abutalebi has said that he acted only as a translator during the 444-day crisis when radical Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted by IRNA as saying that the issue had been "referred to the UN committee".

"The official mechanisms for following up the complaint have been activated and we are going to follow up the case," she said.

Iran had said on Saturday it would take action against Washington at the United Nations over the matter.

Since an uproar among former U.S. hostages and U.S. lawmakers over Abutalebi broke out, Tehran has steadfastly stuck by its choice, describing Aboutalebi as a seasoned diplomat.

He has served as Iran's ambassador to Italy, Belgium and Australia, and is not known for being a hardliner or for having staunchly anti-Western views.

U.S. President Barack Obama had come under strong domestic pressure not to allow Abutalebi into the United States to take up his position in New York, raising concerns that the dispute would disrupt delicate negotiations between Tehran and six world powers, including Washington, over Iran's nuclear program.

The U.S. government can bar U.N. diplomats who are considered national security threats, but this potentially precedent-setting step could invite criticism that it is using its position as host nation to improperly exert political influence.

(Reporting by Michelle Moghtader; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Louise Ireland)