2023-09-25 19:36:56
The United States said Monday that it had refused a visa to the Iranian foreign minister to travel to Washington last week, citing Tehran’s behavior and “its support for terrorism.”
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Iranian Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wanted, according to press reports, to go to Iran’s consular interests section in Washington, following his participation in the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“They did make this request and it was rejected by the State Department,” said spokesperson Matthew Miller, when asked regarding it during his daily press briefing.
The United States and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since the 1979 revolution.
“We have an obligation to allow Iranian and other foreign government officials to travel to New York on UN-related business. But we have no obligation to allow them to go to Washington,” said Matthew Miller.
Such a visit to Washington by an Iranian foreign minister would have been the first in 14 years.
The spokesperson justified the decision to reject the visa “in light of Iran’s unjustified detention of American citizens and Iran’s support of terrorism.”
Iran and the United States nevertheless carried out a rare exchange of prisoners last week, facilitated by the release of six billion dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in South Korea.
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, however, has in recent days tempered expectations that this exchange might lead to broader discussions, on Iranian nuclear power for example.
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