Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

US Facing Pressure to Deny Iran's President Visa for UN Visit

US Facing Pressure to Deny Iran's President Visa for UN Visit

The U.S. government is facing pressure from Iranian Americans and others not to grant visas and provide protection for Iran's hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, and other Iranian officials expected to attend next month's session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.

The State Department on Thursday indicated it would not deny a visa for the Iranians planning to attend the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly in mid-September.

"Visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, I can't discuss the details of individual visa cases. But I would reiterate what we've said before: that as a host nation of the U.N., the U.S. is generally obligated under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement to issue visas to representatives of U.N. member states to travel to the U.N. headquarters district," State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in response to a question from VOA News.

"The U.S. takes seriously its obligations as a host country of the U.N., but again, visa records are confidential, and therefore I can't get into anything else," Patel added.

Guaranteed rights


Under the 1947 agreement regarding the U.N. headquarters in New York, the host nation guarantees rights of entry, movement and residence to those invited to U.N. meetings.

"We've been in a similar place before, facing up to the prospect of our enemies using our trucial obligations hosting the U.N. to exploit the UNGA stage — think Fidel Castro or Yasser Arafat," said Danielle Pletka, distinguished senior fellow in foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. "In general, the United States has bent to the legal opinion of the U.N. affirmed by the General Assembly that we do not have that right. Still, we have on occasion refused to grant visas."

The United States, which has no diplomatic relations with Iran, should deny visas for Raisi and the other government officials traveling from Tehran because "other than al-Qaida, the Iranians have been responsible for the most American deaths in the last 50 years," Pletka told VOA. "There must be a price to be paid for trying to kill Americans on American soil. If we ignore this, what won't we ignore?"

FILE - An FBI wanted poster shows Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi of Tehran, Iran, in an image released by the U.S. Justice Department after it charged the member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with plotting to kill John Bolton, Aug. 10, 2022.


Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department said an Iranian operative was charged in a plot to assassinate former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton in presumed retaliation for a U.S. airstrike that killed a powerful Iranian general.

The suspect, Shahram Poursafi, was identified by U.S. officials as a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He is currently wanted by the FBI on charges related to the murder-for-hire plot.

Iran called the charges politically motivated.

The plot to murder Bolton was "done under the watch of Raisi," wrote Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, in an editorial for The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. "With this track record, Raisi is now seeking rewards from the 'Great Satan' to grant him a visa to enter the United States, where he was plotting to kill senior American officials, and attend the United Nations General Assembly in September."

'Butcher of Tehran'


Raisi is also alleged to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians. Amnesty International has called for the U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate the Iranian president for "crimes against humanity."

Raisi is known as the "butcher of Tehran" among activists for his activities as a prosecutor and a member of a so-called "death committee." He has been subject to U.S. sanctions since 2019 for "complicity in serious human rights violations."

Last September, two months after taking office, Raisi, a cleric, delivered a prerecorded address to the United Nations. There are indications he intends to speak in person this year at the United Nations. His visit there would likely prompt demonstrations in midtown Manhattan, and the federal government would be obligated to spend taxpayers' money to protect the controversial foreign head of government.

"Dozens of U.S. Secret Service agents will be ready to take a bullet for a man whose government has authorized and funded operations against innocent U.S. citizens on American soil," Yashar Ali, a high-profile Iranian American freelance journalist, wrote in his newsletter.
"In order to

maintain operational security, the Secret Service does not discuss protective operations," Special Agent Steve Kopek told VOA in response to a query about whether the agency would protect the Iranian president.

"Banning Raisi and his delegation from entering the United States may cause more criminal behavior and hostile and provocative actions, but nothing must come before protecting US citizens on US soil," said Ali in his newsletter.

In a column in the Scotsman newspaper, Struan Stevenson, the coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change and president of the European Iraqi Freedom Association, expressed hope U.S. President Joe Biden would "rediscover his backbone" and agree that Raisi should not be granted a visa.

"It seems unlikely that the Biden team will deny a visa to Raisi or his delegation," said Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute. "Were there to be clear evidence that someone on that delegation were directly implicated in the threats against former U.S. officials, there would be a good case to be made."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Qatar Airways Clears Backlog of Passengers Following Missile Threats
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
×