U.S. Denies Iranian Officials Visas for UN General Assembly Meet

The U.S. has denied entry visas to Iranian officials, including two ministers, expecting to attend next week’s United Nations General Assembly, the RIAN reports.

The U.S. State Department has refrained from issuing visas for 20 officials of the 160 people for whom the Iranian government had requested entry visas two months ago.

Many Iranian officials are subject to travel bans under sanctions over Iran's controversial nuclear program.

Tehran is currently under several packages of Western-backed sanctions, including EU-brokered oil embargo that came into effect on July 1.

The United States, Israel and a number of Western European countries suspect Iran of running a nuclear weapons program under the guise of a civil nuclear project. Iran denies this and maintains its nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful.