Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the annual gathering of world leaders on Wednesday.
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The Trump administration has agreed to let Iran’s leaders attend next week’s high-level United Nations meetings in New York, even as the two countries remain at war.
“Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend UN General Assembly High Level Week,” the State Department said in a statement.
The granting of travel documents to the Iranian delegation means that its members will be able to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which begins Tuesday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Wednesday.
While previous administrations have largely granted visas for world leaders to attend the high-level meetings, the Trump administration last year announced that it was denying or revoking visas for members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The State Department said this week that it would block the Palestinians’ travel again this year, citing alleged support for terrorism. Employees from the Palestinian mission to the United Nations, which holds observer status, are exempted from the U.S. policy.
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Officials from Iran, which was designated a state sponsor of terrorism, have sometimes been blocked from receiving visas in the past.
Since February, the United States and Iran have been locked in a conflict that began when the Trump administration joined Israel in a military campaign that killed much of Iran’s senior leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Under the 1947 treaty that established the United Nations headquarters in New York, the U.S. government is barred from imposing “any impediments to transit to or from the headquarters district,” with visas ordered to be granted “without charge and as promptly as possible.”
The State Department said that this year, Iran’s delegation would be smaller and would “face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods.” Last year, the State Department imposed new restrictions on Iran’s delegation that blocked them from visiting wholesale shopping outlets such as Costco, Sam’s Club or BJ’s Wholesale Club.
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