Iran: Illegal to Ban UN Ambassador - East Idaho News
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Iran: Illegal to Ban UN Ambassador

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GETTY 041114 IranFlag?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1397267802055iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Iran says the U.S. decision to refuse a visa to the man nominated as its ambassador to the UN contravenes international law and America’s obligations as host country for the UN’s headquarters.

Hamid Aboutalebi was part of a student group that held American hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran after its seizure in 1979.
 
Earlier Friday the White House said the U.S. had communicated to Iran that its UN ambassador pick was “not viable.”  

Iran points to the 1947 agreement to base UN headquarters in New York, which states that “the federal, state or local authorities of the United States shall not impose any impediments to transit to or from the headquarters district of representatives of Members or officials of the United Nations.”

Friday White House spokesperson Jay Carney referred reporters to the U.S. Mission to the UN legal staff for questions about legal implications of denying—and, essentially, exercising a unilateral veto—of another country’s selection of a UN ambassador.

Carney said the White House does not expect this development to harm nuclear talks.

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