The United States denied a visa request by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, effectively blocking him from attending a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
Zarif was planning on attending a security council meeting on Thursday before U.S. officials announced that he could not enter the U.S. The minister condemned the decision, saying that, “the United States will get the decisive, definite answer for its arrogance at the time and place when it will feel the most pain.”
He claimed that the U.S. is afraid to allow him into the country because of the “truth” he would speak before the security council, saying that, “this is because they fear someone will go there and tell the truth to the American people. But they are mistaken. The world is not limited to New York, and you can speak with American people from Tehran, and we will do that.”
Zarif wanted to use the global stage at the U.N. to condemn the U.S. for killing Iranian General Qassem Soleimani following weeks of attacks on Americans, including the death of a contractor and an attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq.
Pompeo acknowledged in a press conference on Tuesday that Zarif had been barred from the U.S. but didn’t offer many details. He explained, “We don’t comment on visa matters of those traveling here to the United States on visas, so I can’t add much more on this issue of Foreign Minister Zarif’s travel to the United States. I’ll say only this: We will always comply with our obligations under the U.N. requirements, the headquarters agreement, and we will do so in this particular instance and more broadly.”
Hatred toward the U.S. has been oozing out of Iran since Soleimani’s death, including chants of “death to America” from parliament and a threat against the White House.
