US President Barack Obama signed a law Friday April 18,2014 that allows
Washington to deny visas to anyone — including United Nations envoys —
who has engaged in terrorist acts against the United States.
Under
the law, which passed US Congress on Thursday April 10,2014 the US already notified the
UN that it would not issue a visa to Iran’s designated ambassador to
the New York-based world body.
Hamid Abutalebi was a
member of an Iranian student group that seized the US embassy in 1979 in
Tehran and held 52 US citizens hostage for 444 days. He is effectively
prevented from becoming Iran’s ambassador to the UN.
Tehran has already said it will not name a substitute.
As
UN host country, the US is normally obligated to issue visas to foreign
diplomats and heads of state attending the annual General Assembly, no
matter how antagonistic their government’s relations with Washington.
There was no immediate reaction Friday April 18,2014 from the United Nations.
The
new US law adds language to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act
giving the president specific authority to reject UN-connected visas.
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