Obama signs law to bar Iran diplomat from serving in UN post

TEHRAN,Apr.20(MNA) – U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law on Friday that effectively bars an Iranian diplomat from serving as an envoy at the United Nations because of suspicions he was involved in the 1979 U.S. embassy seizure in Tehran. Obama signed the law passed by the U.S. Congress that blocks any individual from entering the United States who has been found to have been engaged in espionage or terrorist activity against the United States or if that person may pose a threat to U.S. national security, Reuters reported. The United States had already said it would not grant a visa to Iran's proposed UN ambassador, citing the envoy's links to the embassy seizure. Obama had come under strong pressure not to allow Hamid Aboutalebi into the country to take up his position in New York. The veteran Iranian diplomat has said that he only acted as an interpreter for the group of students who took over the U.S. embassy. The United States said a week ago it had told Iran it would not give Aboutalebi a visa. U.S. officials privately said at the time they hoped Iran would quietly drop the issue and name a new envoy. But Iran on Monday asked for a special meeting of a UN committee on the U.S. decision, calling it a dangerous precedent that could harm international diplomacy.