TEHRAN, APR 13 -
Iran
rejected naming a new diplomat Saturday to represent it at the United
Nations, with one lawmaker urging the Islamic Republic to stand up to
"bullying" from the U.S., which has rejected granting its pick a visa.
The standoff over Hamid Aboutalebi, a member of the group responsible
for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, comes as world
powers negotiate with Iran
over its contested nuclear program. It also threatens to stir fresh
animosity between countries that recently have seen their relations
thaw.
The Obama administration said Friday that the U.S. had informed Iran
it would not grant a visa to Aboutalebi, suggesting that
behind-the-scenes discussions to get them to withdraw him from
consideration failed. On Saturday, Iran
ian state television anchors discussed the U.S. reject, with a crawl at
the bottom of the screen reading: "The Foreign Ministry says Aboutalebi
is Iran 's only choice as its U.N. envoy."
Prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said the U.S. had no right to intervene in Iran 's U.N. envoy pick.
"Naming Aboutalebi as Iran
's U.N. envoy has nothing to do with the U.S. American opposition to
Aboutalebi's entry is a misuse of the geographical location of the
U.N.," the Iran ian parliament's website quoted Boroujerdi as saying Saturday. "The Iran ian government should stand up to this U.S. bullying."
Boroujerdi, who heads the Iran
ian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, urged
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to write to U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon to fight the U.S. decision.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted by Iran 's semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying officials would pursue the issue "through anticipated legal channels at the U.N."
Aboutalebi is alleged to have participated in a Muslim student group
that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the embassy takeover.
He has insisted his involvement in the group Muslim Students Following
the Imam's Line was limited to translation and negotiation. Iran says he is one of the country's best diplomats, and that he previously received a U.S. visa. He already served at Iran ian diplomatic missions in Australia, Belgium and Italy.
As host country for the United Nations, the U.S. must allow persons
invited to the New York headquarters to enter the country. However,
exceptions can be made when a visa applicant is found to have engaged in
spying against the U.S. or poses a threat.
Denying visas to U.N. ambassadorial nominees or to foreign heads of
state who want to attend United Nations events in the U.S. is extremely
rare, though there appears to be precedent. According to a paper
published by the Yale Law School, the United States rejected several Iran
ians appointed to the U.N. in the 1980s who had played roles in the
embassy hostage crisis or other acts against American citizens.
But after more than three decades of discord, U.S. and Iran ian officials have started having occasional direct contact, including a phone call last fall between Obama and new Iran ian President Hassan Rouhani. The U.S. and its international partners also have reached an interim agreement with Iran
to halt progress on Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Officials are in the midst of negotiating a long-term agreement.
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