UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2020) The United States declined to explain the reason behind its refusal to grant a visa for Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to come to a UN Security Council meeting in New York, a diplomatic source told Sputnik on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the UN Committee on Relations with the Host Country (the United States) held a closed-door meeting during which the issue of Zarif's visa denial was addressed.
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week asking him to intervene in the situation over Zarif's visa.
"The US representative stressed confidentiality of the procedure of considering visa applications and said that he was not authorized to comment and explain the reason for issuing or not issuing a visa," the source said.
The source added that other countries at the meeting also stressed the issue of the US denying visas to some diplomats coming to work in New York, including delegates from Russia.
Additionally, Russia raised the question of its diplomatic property illegally seized by the United States in 2016, according to the source.
Under the host country agreement, the United States should not impose any obstacles on the movement to or from the UN headquarters of officials from UN member states who seek to attend the United Nations' events, and should promptly issue them visas.
