UN fails over Iran’s envoy case: Cypriot ambassador

The United Nations has failed to take any actions about Washington’s refusal to grant visa to Iran’s new ambassador to the world body, says the chairman of the UN Committee on Relations with the Host Country.

Cypriot Ambassador to the UN Nicholas Emiliou, who chairs the committee, made the remarks at a press conference following a meeting at the UN headquarters on Tuesday.

Emiliou stated that the issue remained on the committee’s agenda and the committee “will revert to it if necessary.”

“Iran and the United States presented their views on the well-known incident concerning the denial of visa to the new permanent representative of Iran,” said the Cypriot ambassador, adding, “There was a discussion… with the participation of several delegations.”

Washington had announced that it would not grant a visa to Iranian diplomat Hamid Aboutalebi to serve as Tehran’s ambassador to the UN, saying the diplomat was involved in the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran during post-revolution incidents.

On Friday, US President Barack Obama signed a law to bar Aboutalebi from entering the country.

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.

The UN regulations stipulate that each country is allowed to select its own representatives at the international organization, and the US as the host country must grant visas to the appointed diplomats.