US Makes Mistake By Imposing Visa Restrictions On Iranian Diplomats - Venezuela's Arreaza

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) The United States is making a mistake by putting in place limitations on US visas of the diplomats from the Iranian mission to the United Nations, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told reporters.

"The United Nations is here in New York, the state hosts the headquarters, [it] should be open to all the different governments, all the different views," Arreaza said on Wednesday. "If the UN is here, then you have to allow all the freedom of movement, of speech of the diplomats; that is the reason why you hosted the UN in the first place, so we really believe that it is a mistake that the government of the United States is committing."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said that he issued visas that restrict the movements of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the other visiting diplomats to the UN headquarters, Iran's mission in New York and the nearby residence of the Iranian UN ambassador.

Pompeo told the Washington Post that because "US diplomats don't roam around Tehran," the United States sees no need to allow Iranian envoys to "roam freely.

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According to the Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and the United States, the host country should not impose any obstacles on the movement to or from the headquarters district of representatives or officials from UN member states traveling to the United States to attend the organization's events.

"And if they do not believe in multilateralism, if they do not want the UN being here, they just have to say that, I am sure that another place of the world would be a better place for the United Nations," Arreaza added.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been steadily escalating since May 2018, when the United States abruptly pulled out of the landmark Iran nuclear deal and began reimposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

In June, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the Trump administration would soon impose sanctions against Zarif, though such an action has not yet been taken.