Restricting the movement of Rouhani and Zarif in New York .. No US visas for Iranian aides

Iran has refrained from issuing visas to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's aides and organizers of his programs in New York, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

The official IRNA news agency reported that Washington has imposed some restrictions on the visit of President Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in order to limit their impact, restricting Rouhani's visa and his presence in New York for a short period, and making his movements between his residence and the United Nations building and the Iranian mission only.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations said last Thursday that the US government issued a visa to President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif to be able to participate in the work of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which begins on Tuesday, and will continue until September 30.

Iran's foreign minister later said that Rouhani's agenda in New York did not include any meetings with US officials.

Iranian delegation
In a related development, the official Iranian news agency (IRNA) reported last Wednesday that the official Iranian delegation in charge of preparing for the participation of Iranian officials in the United Nations General Assembly, could not travel to New York because the US authorities did not issue visas to members of the delegation.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to answer the refusal to issue visas to the Iranian delegation, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that he was in contact with the host country of the United Nations to resolve outstanding visa issues for all delegations participating in the work. The General Assembly.

The newspaper quoted a senior administration official that the Tehran authorities requested visas for 124 people in its delegation to the General Assembly, but the State Department has lifted the granting of visa to 40 members of the delegation on the grounds that they are linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which was classified by Washington months ago in the list of terrorist organizations.

It should be noted that the problem of issuing visas for Iranian officials to the US territory to participate in international conferences, arises from time to time due to the lack of diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran, and the escalation of tension in the relations between the two countries due to several files.