Senate Passes Bill Barring US Entry for Iran Envoy to UN

Bloomberg News

The U.S. Senate passed legislation to bar Iran's newly selected delegate to the United Nations from entering the U.S. because he was a member of the group that took over the American embassy in 1979.

The Senate passed the measure, sponsored by Texas Republican Ted Cruz, by voice vote tonight after it won the backing in private talks of Charles Schumer of New York, according to a Senate Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Cruz said in a speech today on the Senate floor that his proposal would send a message to Iran 'that the United States Senate is not just going to ignore this latest insult.'

The Senate vote is symbolic because the executive branch issues visas to the U.S.

The move marks a rare moment of agreement between Cruz -- a favorite of the small-government Tea Party movement -- and Schumer, the chamber's third-ranking Democrat and an architect of the party's agenda.

Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor, said it was 'totally inappropriate' that Iran chose Hamid Aboutalebi for its ambassador to the UN and that it would rightly inflame the outrage of the former hostages and their families if he had been allowed to enter the U.S.

'We ought to close the door on him, and others like him, before he even comes to the United States, and that's exactly what this bill will do,' Schumer said.

Terrorist Acts

The Senate measure would amend the Foreign Relations Authorization Act by adding UN representatives who've participated in terrorist acts to the list of those whom the president may deny visas, which already includes those who've spied on the U.S. or could threaten national security.

Cruz maintains that Aboutalebi should be barred because he was a member of the student group involved in the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran that resulted in 52 Americans being held hostage for 444 days. The UN headquarters is in New York.

In a Senate speech last week, Cruz called Aboutalebi 'an acknowledged terrorist.'

'Brutal Disregard'

'It is unconscionable that, in the name of international diplomatic protocol, the United States would be forced to host a foreign national who showed a brutal disregard for the status of our diplomats when they were stationed in his country,' Cruz said in an April 1 floor speech, the same day he introduced the legislation, S. 2195.

The Iranian government has applied for a U.S. visa for Aboutalebi, Iran's former ambassador to Belgium and Italy. He was a member of the Muslim Students Following the Imam's Line, a group of radical students that seized the U.S. embassy on Nov. 4, 1979.

Imam was an honorific used for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution.

Relations between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. and its allies are starting to emerge from the deep freeze that began when the Iranian students overran the embassy and took the hostages. The State Department hasn't responded to the visa application, according to an Iranian diplomat.

'No Business'

Schumer, long a proponent of tough sanctions against Iran, said in a statement last week that Aboutalebi 'has no business serving as Iran's ambassador to the UN' and that Iran's attempt to appoint him was 'a slap in the face to the Americans that were abducted, and their families.'

'This man has no place in the diplomatic process, and the State Department should flat-out deny his visa application,' Schumer said.

The U.S. is obliged to grant entry visas to representatives of UN member-states in accordance with an agreement signed in 1947. Still, this isn't the first time the U.S. has had to grapple with a visa request for a prominent Iranian official.

In 2005, Iran applied for a visa for then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when allegations surfaced that he was one of the hostage-takers. The Department of Homeland Security initially found Ahmadinejad ineligible for a visa to enter the U.S., only to have the State Department grant it months later after interviewing former hostages.

Some U.S. foes have received visas in the past, said Gary Sick, the top Iran specialist on President Jimmy Carter's National Security Council staff during the hostage crisis.

'All kinds of leaders from Cuba to Africa who could be accused of horrible crimes and opposing U.S. policies have received visas,' Sick said. 'There is no way to know why some people get the visa and some don't.'

To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in Washington at khunter9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider at jschneider50@bloomberg.net Steven Komarow

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