Iran rejects Bloomberg’s report on new UN envoy

Iran has dismissed a report by the US-based media outlet Bloomberg about the Islamic Republic’s nominee for the position of ambassador to the United Nations.

“No new individual has been introduced as Iran’s representative to the United Nations and Bloomberg’s report is not correct,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, said on Monday.

Bloomberg on Sunday quoted two UN Security Council diplomats and one European diplomat as saying that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani may name his chief of staff, Mohammad Nahavandian, to be the country’s next envoy to the UN.

Meanwhile, Head of the Public Relations Department of Iran’s Presidential Office Parviz Esmaili also on Monday dismissed Bloomberg’s report, saying no change has been made to the Islamic Republic’s appointee for the position of UN ambassador.

He said Iran had previously introduced Hamid Aboutalebi as its appointee for the position and “no new decision has been made in this regard yet.”

In April, US President Barack Obama refused to grant a visa to Aboutalebi because of what Washington said was the diplomat’s role in the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran during post-revolution incidents in 1979.