Iran lodges complaint against United States over UN envoy ban
DUBAI - Iran has complained to the United Nations about the United States refusing to grant a visa to its newly appointed UN ambassador over his role in the 1979 hostage crisis, state news agency IRNA said on Sunday.
Hamid Abutalebi has said that he acted only as a translator during the 444-day crisis when radical Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted by IRNA as saying that the issue had been "referred to the UN committee".
"The official mechanisms for following up the complaint have been activated and we are going to follow up the case," she said. (Reuters)
