The US will restrict the movements of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his delegation while they are in New York this week, a source told CNN on Tuesday.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller had earlier indicated that the US would place additional travel restrictions on the minister, who will be in New York for a meeting at the United Nations.
According to the source, Amir-Abdollahian and the Iranian delegation’s travel is restricted to the seven blocks north-south and one block west surrounding the UN headquarters in Manhattan, the Iranian Mission to the UN, the residence of their permanent representative to the UN, the six blocks surrounding Queensboro Plaza in Long Island City, and access to John F. Kennedy International Airport using a specific driving route.
Iran’s Permanent Mission to the UN told CNN in response that Iran has not been notified of any additional restrictions on the movements of Amir-Abdollahian and the country's delegation while they are in New York.
The spokesperson explained that the movements Iranian officials have always been restricted to a 25-mile radius surrounding UN headquarters in Manhattan.
In 2020, the Trump administration barred then-Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif from entering the United States to address the United Nations Security Council.
Before the UN General Assembly in September of 2019, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted that he might bar the Iranian delegation, saying that Iran was responsible for carrying out an earlier drone and missile strike on two critical Saudi Arabian oil installations.
However, the US ended up issuing the visas to the Iranian delegation. When asked about the issue at the time, then-President Donald Trump said that if it were up to him, the Iranian leaders would be granted visas.