Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif pouts after US reportedly denies visa to address United Nations in New York – The Sun
THE United States has reportedly denied Iran's foreign minister a visa to travel to the United Nations amid escalating tensions between the two nations after the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
Javad Zarif is apparently incensed that the US won't allow him to travel to New York to address the United Nations later this week, Fox News reports.
"They fear that someone comes to the U.S. and reveals realities," Zarif told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
"The world is not limited to New York, and you can talk to the American people from Tehran, and we will do that."
A US official told the Associated Press that Zarif's application couldn't be process in time for his travel, but it's unclear whether his request was formally denied.
His trip would have been an opportunity for him to discuss the US air strike that killed Iran's top commander last Friday in Baghdad.
On Tuesday, he claimed in a tweet that the visa denial violates the 1947 United Nations Headquarters agreement that requires the US to allow foreign diplomats from other countries to conduct business at the UN.
The US "shall not impose any impediments to transit to or from the headquarters district of…representatives of Members of officials of the United Nations, the agreement reads.
Zarif also accused the US of "economic terrorism" and called US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's threat to starve Iranians a "crime against humanity."
"But what are they really afraid of? Truth?" he asked.
A Trump administration official reportedly informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the alleged visa denial, which Guterres then relayed to the Iranian prime minister, reported Foreign Policy.
The State Department declined to comment on the situation due to visa confidentiality laws that withhold the release of such information with some limited exceptions.
Pompeo wouldn't discuss details on Tuesday, but said the US "will always comply" with the necessary obligations of the UN agreement.
"I'll say only this: We will always comply with our obligations under the UN requirements, the headquarters agreement, and we will do so in this particular instance and more broadly every day."
He also defended the American strike on Soleimani, who was killed early Friday morning in the attack directed by President Donald Trump.
Zarif was set to speak at the UN security council on Thursday in a debate planned before the strike on Soleimani.
Hours after Soleimani's death, Iran began its attempts to secure UN condemnation of the strike, which they deemed a "gross violation" of international law.
In, a letter sent from Iranian Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi to Guterres and the UN security council, the nation called Soleimani's killing a prime example of "State terrorism" and "a criminal act."
Tehran urged the UN Security Council to condemn the US's "unlawful actions."
"It is incumbent upon the Security Councilo to uphold its responsibilities and condemn this unlawful criminal act, taking into account the dire implications of such military adventurism and dangerous provocations by the United States on international peace and security."
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