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US Grants Visas to Iranian Leaders Amid Ongoing Tensions
Confirmed
In Short: The Trump administration has approved visas for senior Iranian officials to attend the UN General Assembly, despite ongoing tensions and recent military confrontations.
The Trump administration has granted visas to senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, to attend the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York.
According to a State Department spokesperson, the visas will be issued with travel restrictions, prohibiting the Iranian delegation from purchasing luxury goods and confining their movements to areas strictly necessary for their official U.N. business.
Despite the issuance of visas to the Iranian delegation, the Trump administration has once again blocked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending the General Assembly, extending sanctions that deny necessary visas to officials from the Palestinian Authority.
The decision to grant visas to Iranian officials comes amid ongoing military confrontations between the U.S. and Iran. Last week, the U.S. military struck five Iranian tankers linked to the IRGC in response to attempted attacks on an American warship.
The State Department spokesperson emphasized that the U.S. will not allow the Iranian regime’s elites to exploit the UNGA for luxury retail spending, stating, 'We will not let the Iranian regime’s elites exploit UNGA for a luxury retail splurge paid for by the Iranian people’s suffering, all while the regime funnels Iran’s wealth to support its terrorist proxies.
Background
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
What's confirmed
- The Trump administration has granted visas to senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, to attend the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York.
- According to a State Department spokesperson, the visas will be issued with travel restrictions, prohibiting the Iranian delegation from purchasing luxury goods and confining their movements to areas strictly necessary for their official U.N. business.
- Despite the issuance of visas to the Iranian delegation, the Trump administration has once again blocked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending the General Assembly, extending sanctions that deny necessary visas to officials from the Palestinian Authority.
- The decision to grant visas to Iranian officials comes amid ongoing military confrontations between the U.S. and Iran. Last week, the U.S. military struck five Iranian tankers linked to the IRGC in response to attempted attacks on an American warship.
- The State Department spokesperson emphasized that the U.S. will not allow the Iranian regime’s elites to exploit the UNGA for luxury retail spending, stating, 'We will not let the Iranian regime’s elites exploit UNGA for a luxury retail splurge paid for by the Iranian people’s suffering, all while the regime funnels Iran’s wealth to support its terrorist proxies.
What's still developing
- “Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend U.N. General Assembly High Level Week,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
- President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is considering resuming full-scale attacks against Iran.
- “I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not. It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me,” Trump told Axios.
- Last month, an Iranian presidential protocol official said Tehran was still assessing the level and size of its attendance at the General Assembly this year, calling the conditions imposed by the U.S. illegal, without elaborating on the complaint.
- The general debate of the General Assembly, the part of the meeting where world leaders will give speeches, will begin on Tuesday when Trump is expected to speak.
- The State Department said visas had been approved for Iran’s “core delegation,” without publicly identifying its members.
- At last year’s General Assembly, held before the current Iran war but after U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer, Washington also issued a limited number of visas to Iranian diplomats while imposing unusually strict restrictions on their movements and purchases.
- In response to a ynet inquiry, the State Department said the Trump administration was maintaining what it described as the highest national-security and public-safety standards in the visa process.