The US government denied visas to 60 individuals intending to accompany Ahmadinejad in his trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, the state-run Fars news agency reported.
“The US State Department did not issue visas for Mohammad Sheikhan, deputy of communications and information and Mohammad Jafar Behdad, deputy of political affairs in the president’s office. This year, in addition to reporters, the security team and other personnel, numerous officials were also not able to accompany Ahmadinejad after visas were not issued for them,” Fars added.
“The Islamic republic of Iran had requested 160 visas for those intending to accompany the president. Visas for only about 100 were agreed to and various officials were unable to take part in this trip,” another state-run daily reported.