UANI Urges Rejection Of U.S. Visa To Iran’s Foreign Minister

(New York, NY) – United Against Nuclear Iran CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following statement today on Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani’s trip to New York this week for meetings at the United Nations:

“The U.S. government should deny a visa to Iran’s regime’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani. He is visiting New York as Tehran plots assassination and kidnapping attempts against Americans on U.S. soil. When Iranian officials have visited the United States in the past, a delegation of individuals have accompanied them who have troubling ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is spearheading these operations against Americans. 

“There is precedent and legal authority for the U.S. government to deny such visas to foreign officials who want to attend U.N. meetings. For example, President Obama rejected a visa for Iran’s proposed U.N. envoy in 2014 due to his role in the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Instead of rolling out the red carpet for the Islamic Republic’s representatives, the U.S. government should have made a point of rejecting a visa application for Ali Bagheri Kani, who is an in-law of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This is the same man who is authorizing these schemes against U.S. citizens.

“Even more concerning is that Ali Bagheri Kani’s trip to New York comes after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence disclosed that Iran’s regime has been providing financial support to pro-Hamas protesters in the United States. This means that a hostile foreign power has been paying individuals in the United States who have been spreading antisemitism threatening American citizens.

“Given these concerning developments and on the very week which marks the 30th anniversary of the July 18 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in Buenos Aires that was directed by Iran’s regime, Ali Bagheri Kani has no business being in the United States. Bagheri Kani should be deported immediately. 

“Even if the Biden administration insists that his trip move forward, Bagheri Kani’s movements should be severely curtailed to the degree that former Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s travels were limited during his last visit in April after UANI intervention succeeded in imposing restrictions on him.”

To read UANI’s profile on Ali Bagheri Kani, please click here.

To read UANI’s previous letter to the U.S. State Department expressing concern about visas for Iranian diplomats, please click here.