The United States notified Iran’s government on Tuesday that Tehran’s pick for a new U.N. envoy is “not viable,” a day after the U.S. Senate voted against letting the diplomat enter the country, AP reported on Tuesday, April 8th.
American officials objected to the selection of Hamid Abutalebi because of his alleged participation in a Muslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The Obama administration has stopped short of saying it would refuse him a visa. “The U.S. government has informed the government of Iran that this potential selection is not viable,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in Washington.
The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a bill that would bar Abutalebi from entering the United States. Prospects for the bill in the House are unclear, though it is expected to have strong support.
Carney said the Obama administration finds Iran’s choice of Abutalebi extremely troubling and shares the Senate’s concern.
Abutalebi, who previously served as Iran’s ambassador to Belgium, the European Union, Italy and Australia, reportedly has insisted that his involvement in the group Muslim Students Following the Imam’s Line was limited to translation and negotiation.
The hostage crisis was a key moment in the lives of many senior Iranian political figures and led to diplomatic relations being cut between Washington and Tehran.
Foreign-based Farsi websites say the minister of economy and financial affairs, Ali Tayebnia, was another member of the student group. He visited Washington to attend International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in October.