After US visa .. Zarif in the United States to attend a UN meeting

The United States has given Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif a visa to attend a UN meeting in New York this week, officials said on Sunday, adding that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had endorsed the decision.

The sources added that if Pompeo did not agree to give Zarif a visa, it would be an indication that the United States is seeking to further isolate the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that Minister Zarif went to the United States to attend an international meeting in the framework of a US tour that includes Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia.

Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Mousavi was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that Zarif traveled to New York to attend the annual meeting of the Economic and Social Council of high-level UN officials.

Moussaoui also said Zarif would also visit Venezuela after his visit to New York to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Iranian spokesman said that Zarif will visit Nicaragua and Bolivia after the end of his visit to Venezuela in order to hold bilateral meetings with the officials of the two countries. The spokesman did not say whether Zarif would meet US officials while in New York.

Zarif has already arrived in New York where he is attending a ministerial meeting at UN headquarters on sustainable development goals and aims to address issues such as conflict, hunger, gender equality and climate change by 2030, the UN's diplomatic mission to Iran said.

Zarif's visit comes at a time of heightened tension between the United States and Iran since the latter withdrew more than a year ago from the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement.

Washington has re-imposed tough economic sanctions on Tehran, and the latter has reduced its obligations under the deal, which has imposed restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting Western sanctions.

US Treasury Secretary Stephen Menuchin said on June 24 that US sanctions would be issued against Zarif within days, in an unusual announcement by the United States, which is keen to make such decisions so abruptly that it prevents those targeted from diverting their assets away from the US jurisdiction .

But informed sources confirmed to Reuters that Washington decided to postpone the inclusion of Zarif on its black list at the moment.