- Iran: Eight Prisoners Hanged on Drug Charges
- Daughter of late Iranian president jailed for ‘spreading lies’ - IRAN: Annual report on the death penalty 2016 - Taheri Facing the Death Penalty Again - Dedicated team seeking return of missing agent in Iran - Iran Arrests 2, Seizes Bibles During Catholic Crackdown
- Trump to welcome Netanyahu as Palestinians fear U.S. shift
- Details of Iran nuclear deal still secret as US-Tehran relations unravel - Will Trump's Next Iran Sanctions Target China's Banks? - Don’t ‘tear up’ the Iran deal. Let it fail on its own. - Iran Has Changed, But For The Worse - Iran nuclear deal ‘on life support,’ Priebus says
- Female Activist Criticizes Rouhani’s Failure to Protect Citizens
- Iran’s 1st female bodybuilder tells her story - Iranian lady becomes a Dollar Millionaire on Valentine’s Day - Two women arrested after being filmed riding motorbike in Iran - 43,000 Cases of Child Marriage in Iran - Woman Investigating Clinton Foundation Child Trafficking KILLED!
- Senior Senators, ex-US officials urge firm policy on Iran
- In backing Syria's Assad, Russia looks to outdo Iran - Six out of 10 People in France ‘Don’t Feel Safe Anywhere’ - The liberal narrative is in denial about Iran - Netanyahu urges Putin to block Iranian power corridor - Iran Poses ‘Greatest Long Term Threat’ To Mid-East Security |
Friday 30 January 2015Iran Bows to Pressure in Naming U.N. EnvoyRelenting to American opposition, Iran named a substitute United Nations ambassador on Wednesday, withdrawing its first choice, whom the United States had accused of aiding the plotters of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. An announcement of the appointment by the Foreign Ministry in Tehran came nine months after the Obama administration had made clear that Iran’s first choice, Hamid Aboutalebi, an experienced diplomat, would never get a visa. Although Iran protested vigorously at the United Nations — and renewed its complaint on Wednesday with the substitute appointment — the Foreign Ministry implicitly acknowledged in the announcement that filling the post was more important than perpetuating the deadlock. Iranian national interests need protection, the ministry said, “especially considering the current critical condition in the region and the world.” The choice of Mr. Aboutalebi, a former Iranian ambassador to the European Union, was seen by a broad range of American politicians, and former hostages, as a provocative move that reflected what some called a miscalculation on Iran’s part. The ambassador to the United Nations is Iran’s most important representative in the United States, which broke diplomatic relations with Iran because of the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran after the revolution that toppled Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days in a crisis that turned the governments of both countries into antagonists, an estrangement that has helped shape American foreign policy for more than three decades. While he was awaiting his visa accreditation, Mr. Aboutalebi acknowledged that he had worked as a translator for the hostage takers. Mr. Aboutalebi insisted that he was never involved in the embassy siege. But his admission of even a tangential role made him politically unacceptable to the Americans, particularly in the current tense atmosphere. Both countries differ bitterly over issues including Iran’s nuclear activities, Israel and the Syria conflict. Although the United States, as the host country for the United Nations, is obliged to permit access by diplomatic representatives, even from countries it dislikes, American law gives the host the right to “safeguard its own security” by denying visas to foreigners deemed to be a threat. Iran’s new choice for the United Nations post, Gholamali Khoshroo, the current ambassador to Switzerland, also is an experienced United Nations diplomat and a former member of the Iranian team negotiating over the country’s disputed nuclear program. There was no word on when Mr. Khoshroo, 60, would take up the new post or the status of his visa application. A State Department official said it was aware of the reports of Mr. Khoshroo’s appointment. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity under department policy, also said “all visa applications are reviewed individually in accordance with the requirements of U.S. law.” Mr. Khoshroo was described in the official Iranian accounts of his appointment as a sociologist by training who had studied at Tehran University and the New School for Social Research in New York. Iran experts in the United States described him as having worked closely with both President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. “He may be expected to fulfill certain functions, such as building support for Iran’s position on the nuclear program, since Iran does not have an embassy in the U.S.,” said Alireza Nader, an Iran specialist at the Washington offices of the RAND Corporation, a research organization. But the new ambassador’s room to maneuver may be limited, Mr. Nader said, by Iranian conservatives who do not trust Mr. Zarif, an American-educated diplomat whom they have already criticized for what they consider his overly pliant attitude toward the West. NYTimes.com |